Umar Khalid faces charges under the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for being one of the “masterminds” of the February 2020 Delhi riots<\/a>, which had left 53 people dead and over 700 injured. 18 people have been named accused in the Delhi riots larger conspiracy case, but only 6 have received bail so far.<\/p>\n Delhi’s Karkardooma Court today rejected bail to former JNU student activist Umar Khalid in a “larger conspiracy” case linking to the 2020 Northeast Delhi violence. He was arrested on September 14, 2020, and is currently imprisoned at Delhi’s Tihar jail.<\/p>\n Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat had reserved the order on March 3 after hearing arguments from the counsel appearing for Mr Khalid and the prosecution.<\/p>\n During the arguments, the accused told the court that the prosecution lacked the evidence to prove its case against him.<\/p>\n Senior Advocate Trideep Pais, appearing for Umar Khalid, had argued that the entire charge sheet filed by Delhi Police in the case is a fabrication and that the case against him is based on the video clips run by two TV channels showing a truncated version of his speech.<\/p>\n The student leader faces IPC sections pertaining to inciting riots, promoting religious enmity, giving provocative speeches for allegedly “pre-planning” the communal riot incidents of February 2020.<\/p>\n However, Umar Khalid never propagated hate and in his speeches, he said, \u201cWe won\u2019t respond to violence with violence. We won\u2019t respond to hate with hate. If they spread hate, we will respond to it with love. If they thrash us with lathis, we keep holding the tricolor.”<\/p>\n Umar Khalid, \u201cWe won\u2019t respond to violence with violence. We won\u2019t respond to hate with hate. If they spread hate, we will respond to it with love. If they thrash us with lathis, we keep holding the tricolor.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n So why did the court hold him back?<\/p>\n Chargesheet Has No Basis Of Fact, Argues Umar Khalid Counsel and the prosecution had contended that Umar Khalid was a “veteran of sedition” and the “silent whisper behind the first phase of the riots that took place in 2019”. The student leader’s lawyer had argued that these were rhetorical allegations made without any factual basis.<\/p>\n The prosecution had said there are incriminating WhatsApp chats that were allegedly used in the “execution of the conspiracy”. Mr. Pais had said there was no merit in arguments about incriminating WhatsApp chats as he sent only four messages on the WhatsApp group “Delhi Protest Support Group” between December 2019 and March 2020.<\/p>\n Umar Khalid’s defense in court was that statements in the charge sheet are “figments of imagination” and like “9 pm script of shouting news channels”.<\/p>\n Witnesses gave inconsistent, cooked-up statements, Mr Pais had argued, adding that charge sheets were handed out to media to form an unfavorable public opinion.<\/p>\n The violence had erupted during the protests against the citizenship law Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens.<\/p>\n Activist Khalid Saifi, JNU students Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, Jamia Coordination Committee members Safoora Zargar, former AAP councilor Tahir Hussain and several others have also been booked under the stringent law in the case.<\/p>\n The 2020 Delhi riots or North East Delhi riots were a heavy triggering of violence, bloodshed, property destruction, and rioting in North East Delhi, beginning on 23 February 2020 which raged for three days, without the police intervention who were reported to be mere spectators of the carnage.\u00a0 This riot was caused chiefly by Hindu mobs attacking Muslims. There were 53 killed, 2 unidentified; 36 Muslims; 15 Hindus.\u00a0 Houses and mosques were set on fire.<\/p>\n The dead also included a policeman, an intelligence officer. More than a week after the violence had ended, hundreds of wounded were languishing in inadequately staffed medical facilities and corpses were being found in open drains.<\/p>\n By mid-March, many Muslims had remained missing. The properties destroyed were disproportionately Muslim-owned and included four mosques, which were set ablaze by rioters.\u00a0 <\/sup>\u00a0By the end of February, many Muslims had left these neighborhoods.\u00a0 <\/sup>Even in areas of Delhi untouched by the violence, some Muslims had left for their ancestral villages, fearful for their personal safety in India’s capital.<\/sup><\/p>\n Due to the rising anti-Muslim propaganda created by negative elements in the nation, there is a general feeling that Umar Khalid was denied bail because he was a Muslim, and he was also arrested because he was a Muslim because there was no evidence against him and neither were his speeches provocative.<\/p>\n Guys, how many of you believe UMAR KHALID was denied bail because of his religion ? pic.twitter.com\/1huU1K23LS<\/a><\/p>\n — G. Kris Nair (@KrisNair1) March 24, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\nAlleged Umar Khalid Languishing in Jail Due to News Channels Getting Edited Clips from BJP Leaders who Got Those Edited Clips From Workers!<\/h3>\n
The Delhi Riots<\/h3>\n
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