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New Delhi, Oct 31 (IANS) The Supreme Court has heard the bail plea of student activists Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and Gulfisha Fatima, accused of an alleged “larger conspiracy” behind the 2020 North East Delhi riots, and booked under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
A bench of Justices Arvind Kumar and NV Anjaria heard the arguments of the petitioners and adjourned the case to Monday (November 3) to continue the arguments of the co-accused as well as Delhi Police.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Umar Khalid, argued that the prosecution has continuously delayed the trial and is now trying to put the blame on the accused.
Sibal argued, “They say it is I who is taking time and delaying the matter while the facts say otherwise.”
Sibal said, “Of the 751 FIRs related to the riots, Khalid’s name was in only one. He (Khalid) was not even in Delhi at the time of the riots.”
He relied on the bail orders granted to co-accused Asif Iqbal Tanha, Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal to argue that none of the acts committed by Khalid fell within the definition of “terrorist act” under the UAPA.
Sibal said, “He has been granted bail. Umar Khalid was not even present in Delhi. The evidence and witnesses are the same.”
Senior advocate Siddharth Dave, appearing for Sharjeel Imam, argued that the prosecution took more than three years to complete the investigation and kept filing supplementary charge sheets till September 2024.
“The trial could not proceed because it was said that the investigation was ongoing. So out of the five years, three years were spent in the investigation,” Dave told a bench led by Justice Kumar.
He said Imam had been in custody since January 25, 2020, about a month before the riots broke out in late February. Dave said, “If I have been in custody since January, what role could I have in the riots in February? My speeches were in December 2019 – two months before the riots.”
Responding to the top court’s question on the nature of the speech, Dave said, “I had called for chakka jam as part of the protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). There was no call for violence.”
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Gulfisha Fatima, said the only charge against her was setting up a protest site.
“There were no incidents of violence at those sites. There is no oral or documentary evidence to show that any violent material was present where I was,” Singhvi said.
A bench led by Justice Kumar will continue hearing the bail pleas of other co-accused Meeran Haider, Mohammad Salim Khan and Shifa Ur Rehman on Monday (November 3).
In its detailed counter affidavit filed earlier this week, Delhi Police had opposed the bail plea of Khalid and Imam, and termed them “key conspirators” who planned and carefully coordinated the Delhi riots.
The affidavit claimed that the conspiracy was hatched to “attract international attention” at the time of then US President Donald Trump’s visit to India and to portray the CAA protests as a genocide against Muslims.
It described Umar Khalid as a “mentor” who mobilized networks through the Jamia Coordination Committee (JCC) and the Delhi Protest Support Group (DPSG). It also cited protected witness statements and digital evidence linking Khalid and Imam to planning the protest sites, which allegedly turned violent.
According to the police, Sharjeel Imam’s “Chakka Jam model” first manifested in Shaheen Bagh, and later spread to Khureji, Seelampur and Jaffrabad, allegedly forming the first phase of the riots, with Khalid overseeing the February 2020 violence.
The affidavit recorded 53 deaths, 530 injuries including 106 police officers and damage to property worth over Rs 21 crore, alleging that the accused tried to “destabilize the country” by portraying the CAA as a campaign of “ethnic cleansing or genocide of the Muslim community”.
–IANS
PDS/PGH