After Police Ask For More Time, SC Adjourns Umar Khalid Bail Hearing to 24 July

Khalid, who was arrested in connection with the 2020 Delhi Riots, has been behind bars for nearly three years.

After Delhi Police Seeks More Time, SC Adjourns Umar Khalid Hearing to 24 July

(Photo: Aroop Mishra/The Quint)

The Supreme Court on Wednesday, 12 July, adjourned the bail plea hearing of former JNU Scholar to 24 July. Khalid, who was arrested in connection with the Northeast Delhi Riots in 2020, has been behind bars for nearly three years.

The reason for adjournment: The Delhi Police sought more time to file a counter-affidavit.

The conversation, after that, proceeded somewhat like this, according to LiveLaw:

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Khalid: "What counter is to file? It's a bail plea. The man is in custody for almost three years."

Counsel representing Delhi Police: "Please give us some time."

Justice Bopanna: "We Will have it on Monday."

Counsel representing Delhi Police: "Please grant me more time. The chargesheet is voluminous. Runs into thousands of pages."

Justice Bopanna: "You should have been ready today. "

Counsel representing Delhi Police: "Was given papers two days ago. Please grant us some reasonable time."

Justice Bopanna: "Monday, July 24."

Counsel representing Delhi Police: "Monday might not be feasible because of the heavy board. "

Justice Bopanna: "Whether, on Monday, the board is heavy, we have to decide."

Justice Sundresh: "May take 1-2 minutes for this."

The case: Khalid is among the accused allegedly involved in the broader conspiracy case concerning the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots. He has been booked under sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the Arms Act, and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.

He was charged alongside 59 others, including Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal from the Pinjra Tod group, Asif Iqbal Tanha from Jamia Millia Islamia, and student activist Gulfisha Fatima.

Zargar, Kalita, Narwal, Tanha, and Jahan have already been granted bail. The division bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani had granted bail to Kalita, Narwal, and Tanha last year.

Bail Denied Previously: Meanwhile, in October last year, the Delhi High Court affirmed a March 2022 ruling by a trial court that denied bail to Khalid. A division bench comprising Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar noted that the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA) were linked to the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots, with several 'conspiratorial meetings' taking place between December 2019 and February 2020. Khalid was reported to have attended some of these meetings.

The High Court's order also expressed grave concern regarding Khalid's usage of the phrases 'Inquilabli Salam' (revolutionary salute) and 'Krantikari istiqbal' (revolutionary welcome) during a speech delivered in Amaravati in February 2020. The court said in its orderthat it is this language that potentially incited 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 had observed. 

(With inputs from LiveLaw)