Supreme Court Adjourns Umar Khalid's Bail Plea, Next Posting On January 31
The Supreme Court on Wednesday (January 23) adjourned the hearing of former JNU scholar and activist Umar Khalid's bail plea in connection with the Delhi riots larger conspiracy case. He has been behind bars since September 2020, awaiting his trial under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for his alleged involvement in the larger conspiracy surrounding the communal violence that broke...
The Supreme Court on Wednesday (January 23) adjourned the hearing of former JNU scholar and activist Umar Khalid's bail plea in connection with the Delhi riots larger conspiracy case. He has been behind bars since September 2020, awaiting his trial under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for his alleged involvement in the larger conspiracy surrounding the communal violence that broke out in February 2020 in the national capital.
A bench of Justices Bela Trivedi and Ujjal Bhuyan was hearing Khalid's special leave petition challenging the decision of the Delhi High Court to deny him bail last year. The former JNU student has also filed a writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution, challenging various provisions of the anti-terror statute. The top court has tagged this plea with earlier petitions filed challenging the constitutionality of UAPA provisions. Later, it decided to hear the batch of petitions challenging UAPA provisions along with Khalid's bail application.
The hearing was adjourned today since Justice Trivedi had to be in a different special bench combination to hear another matter at 2 PM. Before the bench was about to rise before the lunch break, Senior Advocate CU Singh, appearing for Khalid, mentioned the matter and said that though he was ready to argue the matter, the bench was available only till lunch. He requested for posting on January 31. While deferring the hearing until January 31, Justice Trivedi, however, clarified that the case would be listed 'high on the board'.
This case has also witnessed the recusal of one of the judges, Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra, who was slated to hear it in August last year. The hearing has been adjourned several times since notice was issued by the top court in the activist's plea on May 18 – once on July 12 after the Delhi police sought more time to file a counter-affidavit, on July 24 after a letter of adjournment was circulated by Khalid's counsel, on August 9 after Justice Mishra recused himself, on August 18, when the matter was listed on a miscellaneous day, on September 5 at the behest of the petitioner, on September 12 to allow the bench to go through the evidence on record, on October 12 owing to a paucity of time, on October 31 to hear the bail application with Khalid's writ petition, and again on January 10 on the joint request of both sides.
Khalid has spent over three years under incarceration now.
Background
Khalid, a former scholar and researcher from Jawaharlal Nehru University, is one of the accused in the larger conspiracy case relating to the 2020 North-East Delhi communal riots case. He has been accused along with 59 others, including Pinjra Tod members Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal, Jamia Millia Islamia student Asif Iqbal Tanha, and student activist Gulfisha Fatima.
Others who have been charge-sheeted in the case include former Congress councillor Ishrat Jahan, Jamia Coordination Committee members Safoora Zargar, Meeran Haider, and Shifa-Ur-Rehman, former Aam Aadmi Party councillor Tahir Hussain, activist Khalid Saifi, Shadab Ahmed, Tasleem Ahmed, Mohd Salim Khan, and Athar Khan.
Khalid and JNU student Sharjeel Imam were the last to be charge-sheeted in the case. Zargar, Kalita, Narwal, Tanha, and Jahan have already been granted bail. Kalita, Narwhal, and Tanha were granted bail by a division bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani last year.
Khalid has been booked under Sections 13, 16, 17, and 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, Sections 25 and 27 of the Arms Act, 1959, and Sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984.
Last year, in October, the Delhi High Court upheld a March 2022 order of a trial court denying Khalid bail. A division bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar observed that the protests against Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA) were geared towards the 2020 North-East Delhi riots through various 'conspiratorial meetings' held from December 2019 till February 2020, some of which were also attended by Khalid.
In the order, the high court also took a serious view of Khalid using the words 'inquilabli salam' (revolutionary salute) and 'krantikari istiqbal' (revolutionary welcome) in a speech given in Amaravati in February 2020, considering it to be an incitement of violence. “Revolution by itself isn't always bloodless, which is why it is contradistinctly used with the prefix - a 'bloodless' revolution. So, when we use the expression 'revolution', it is not necessarily bloodless,” the Delhi High Court observed. During the case, the bench also questioned the UAPA accused for using the world 'jumla' against the prime minister, remarking that there should be a 'lakshman rekha' for criticism.
Khalid challenged the Delhi High Court's verdict before the Supreme Court and in May of this year, a bench headed by Justice Bopanna issued notice in his plea. Earlier that month, another bench of the apex court had dismissed Delhi police's plea against a high court order granting bail to co-accused Asif Iqbal Tanha, Natasha Narwal, and Devangana Kalita.
Case Title
Umar Khalid v. State of NCT of Delhi | Special Leave Petition (Criminal) No. 6857 of 2023