A Delhi court on Monday, 21 March deferred orders for the second time in Umar Khalid’s bail application in the Delhi Riots larger conspiracy case.
Khalid has been charged under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), as well as other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), in connection with this case – registered under FIR 59.
The order has now been reserved for Wednesday, 23 March.
Previously, on 14 March, Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat of Delhi's Karkardooma Court had reserved the order for Monday, saying that the defence had not filed their written submissions in the matter.
Umar Khalid, an activist and a former student leader of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), was arrested on 14 September 2020 in connection with the case.
Khalid's counsel opposed the UAPA charges in the court and reportedly said that his speech in Amravati was about Gandhi, harmony, and the Constitution, which was not a crime.
Opposing the bail plea, Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Amit Prasad argued that the permission for the Amravati programme was rejected on 11 February 2020 by the Maharashtra Police as then US President Donald Trump was visiting India on the same day.
Communal clashes had taken over northeast Delhi as protests intensified against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in the national capital in February 2020. As many as 53 people had been reported dead, hundreds were injured, and property worth crores was destroyed in the violence.
Eighteen people have been named accused in this case, but only six have received bail so far. Of the six who have got bail, only Ishrat Jahan has been granted the same by a sessions court. Five others, Faizan Khan, Safoora Zargar, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, had to go up to the Delhi High Court before they were granted any relief.
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