Delhi Court grants bail to Umar Khalid in Northeast Delhi violence case

A Delhi court has granted bail to former JNU student leader Umar Khalid in an FIR lodged in connection with the Khajuri Khas violence matter.

The court on Thursday noted that he cannot be made to incarcerate in jail for infinity merely on account of the fact that other persons who were part of the riotous mob have to be identified and arrested in the matter.

Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Yadav on Thursday while granting bail to Khalid, said, "The investigation in the matter is complete and chargesheet has already been filed. The trial in the matter is likely to take long time. The applicant has been in judicial custody in the matter since October 1, 2020. The applicant cannot be made to incarcerate in jail for infinity merely on account of the fact that other persons who were part of the riotous mob have to be identified and arrested in the matter."

The court further stated, "the co-accused Khalid Saifi has already been enlarged on bail by this court and the Special Public Prosecutor (PP) has been unable to establish that the role assigned to Umar Khalid is not similar to the role attributed to co-accused Khalid."

Senior advocate Trideep Pais along with advocate Sanya Kumar and Rakshanda Deka who appeared for Umar Khalid, argued that the applicant (Umar Khalid) has been falsely implicated in the matter by the investigating agency on account of "political vendetta to muzzle the dissent".

They further stated, "The applicant is aged about 33 years, PhD degree holder from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi and holds several doctoral thesis to his credit. However, his professional career which was at the very threshold has been completely derailed owing to his false implication in the instant case."

Senior advocate Trideep Pais further argued that Umar Khalid was not physically present at the spot/scene of crime (SOC) on the date of alleged incident and that is the reason he is neither visible in any CCTV footage/ viral video nor any of the witnesses have specifically named him to be part/member of the riotous mob.

Whereas Special PP for the State while opposing the bail plea submitted that the case is "sensitive" in nature, which involves the riots which took place at or around the house of main accused Tahir Hussain. He further stated that during investigation, it has emerged that there was a "deep-rooted conspiracy" which triggered communal riots in Delhi.

According to the chargesheet of the Delhi Police, the accused Umar Khalid was an active participant in the criminal conspiracy to instigate communal riots in various parts of Delhi. It stated that due to the instigation by the accused persons, a mob had gathered which had robbed persons and burnt down the properties including houses and shops. They had also destroyed the public property, it said.

However, Umar Khalid continues to be in judicial custody in connection with another case of Delhi riots, a larger conspiracy case concerning Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) charges.

More than 750 cases were registered over the northeast Delhi violence, in which at least 53 people were killed and several others were injured. So far, over 250 chargesheets have been filed in the riots related cases in which 1,153 accused have been charge-sheeted.

( With inputs from ANI )