Delhi High Court on Tuesday found "no merit" in the appeal and denied bail to Umar Khalid, a former Jawaharlal Nehru University student, in the case where he has been accused of conspiring to orchestrate the February 2020 Delhi Riots.
Justices Siddharth Mridul and Rajnish Bhatnagar gave their verdict on Khalid's plea challenging his denial of bail from a lower court after hearing arguments from Senior Advocate Trideep Pais and Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad for almost 20 days.
The Delhi Police in September 2020 arrested Khalid and charged him with criminal conspiracy, rioting, and unlawful assembly as well as several provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967.
Earlier this year in April while hearing arguments on the merits of this case, the bench observed that a speech Khalid gave in Amravati on February 17, 2020—days before riots broke out in NorthEast Delhi—was prima facie "offensive", "obnoxious" and "inciteful".
"Don't you find such language offensive? It gives the impression that only one community was fighting against the British. Did Gandhiji ever employ such language? Did Bhagat Singh ever employ this? Is this what Gandhiji told us?" the bench said and added that they were not surprised that the FIR in the Delhi Riots case was "premised" on parts of that speech.
This is a developing story and it will be updated shortly.