No criminal connect with Delhi riots: Umar Khalid argues in court

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday reserved its order on a bail plea by Umar Khalid in a UAPA case related to the alleged conspiracy behind the riots here in February 2020 as the former JNU student contended that he neither had any criminal role in the violence nor any conspiratorial connect with any other accused in the matter.

Khalid, arrested by Delhi Police in September 2020, said that there was no material to support the case of the prosecution against him and that he raised issues that several others were discussing in the other country, including those concerning the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Maintaining that there was nothing illegal in raising such issues, he also said that his Amravati speech — which forms the basis of the allegations against him — not only had a categorical call for non-violence but also did not lead to violence anywhere.

Accusing the prosecution of making stuff up as it went along , he argued that parts of the Delhi police charge sheet have no basis and the conspiracy alleged by the prosecution should be towards violence in Delhi and not raising issues of injustice .

The only overt act attributed to me (by the prosecution) is the speech (in Amravati in Maharashtra)... that was a public event. That did not lead to violence anywhere. To simplify and say 'oh that speech in Amaravati was targeted towards Delhi' (is not right). Donald Trump went to Ahmedabad also (and there was no violence there). We have the liberty to travel anywhere to India and make speeches if we want to, senior advocate Trideep Pais, appearing for Khalid, told a bench headed by Justice Siddharth Mridul.

My speech has a categorical call for non-violence and I request your lordship to read the speech as a whole and not in the manner in which my learned friend (prosecutor) wants to dissect it, take one sentence and then place it on his own conjecture This speech does not show any conspiratorial connect with anybody, any other accused, or any violence whatsoever, he further told the bench, also comprising Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar.

Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, and several others have been booked under the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and provisions of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly being the "masterminds" of the February 2020 riots, which had left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.

The violence erupted during the protests against CAA and NRC.

The court had issued notice to the Delhi Police on Khalid's bail plea in April.

The Delhi Police, represented by special public prosecutor Amit Prasad, has opposed the bail plea by Khalid saying the speech delivered by him in Amravati in February 2020 was a very calculated speech which brought various points including Babri Masjid, triple talaq, Kashmir, suppression of Muslims and Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC).