New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday rejected bail plea of JNU scholar and activist Umar Khalid, who was arrested in a case related to the alleged conspiracy behind the February 2020 riots in the city.
A bench of justices Siddharth Mridul and Rajnish Bhatnagar rejected the bail plea saying “There is no merit in the bail appeal. Bail appeal is dismissed.”
The bench had reserved orders of the bail plea on September 9.
Umar Khalid, arrested by Delhi Police in September 2020, sought bail on grounds that he neither had any “criminal role” in the violence in the city’s north-east area nor any “conspiratorial connect” with any other accused in the case, reports news agency PTI.
The Delhi Police opposed the bail plea saying Khalid’s speeches were to create a sense of fear among Muslims.
In April, Khalid moved to high court after being denied bail in the trial court a month earlier.
Terming the denial of bail to Umar ‘unjust’, the senior Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan tweeted, “The rejection of Umar Khalid’s bail by the Delhi HC is unjust.There is absolutely no credible evidence against Umar reg his involvement with any conspiracy or violent activity. On the contrary videos of all his speeches show him preaching non violence even in response to violence.”
