Umar Khalid was lasted granted an interim bail of seven days last year to attend another wedding, and was also granted a similar relief in 2022.
In a major relief for 2020 Delhi Riots accused Umar Khalid, a Delhi court on Thursday approved his interim bail plea to allow the former JNU student activist to attend his sister’s wedding.
Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai granted interim bail to Umar Khalid from December 16 to 29, against a personal bond of Rs 20,000 and two sureties of like amount.
What are the bail conditions?
The court has directed Khalid, an accused in the the larger conspiracy behind the 2020 Delhi riots, not to use social media during the bail period, and he will only be allowed to meet family and friends.
“During the interim bail period, the applicant (Khalid) shall not use the social media,” the court said, directing him to “only meet his family members, relatives and friends”, and mandating that Khalid must “remain at his home or at the places where the ceremonies of marriage as mentioned by him will take place”.
Other condition of Umar Khalid’s interim bail include him not being allowed to contact any witness and providing his mobile phone number to the investigating officer.
Further, Umar Khalid has been directed to surrender before the prison authorities on the evening of December 29.
Umar Khalid was lasted granted an interim bail of seven days last year to attend another wedding, and was also granted a similar relief in 2022.
Who is Umar Khalid?
Umar Khalid, a research scholar at the Jawaharlal University (JNU), along with other student activists, first came to the limelight in 2013 when demonstrations erupted at the varsity to protest the hanging of Parliament attack mastermind Afzal Guru.
Khalid was first arrested by the Delhi Police in February 2016 for allegedly raising anti-national slogans at an event on JNU campus against Guru’s execution.
Why Umar Khalid is in jail?
Umar Khalid, a research-scholar at the JNU, was arrested by the Delhi Police in September 2020 and booked under UAPA. The police have named Khalid as the “key conspirator” in the Delhi communal violence case which led to the deaths of 53 people and left at least 200 others injured.
According to the police, Umar Khalid “conspired” and “instigated” the deadly communal clashes which broke out in Delhi on February 24, 2020, after pro and anti-CAA protesters clashed in the capital city.
Since his arrest in the case, Khalid has been denied bail by the court on several occasions and spent the last five years without facing a trial or even the charges being framed against him and other activists who have been arrested in the same case.
Notably, a Delhi court in December 2022, acquitted Umar Khalid in a case of alleged rioting, vandalism and arson at a parking lot in February 2020, but the former JNU student leader remains behind bars in the second case against him under the UAPA and various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for allegedly being a “mastermind” of the northeast Delhi riots.
The 37-year-old researcher and scholar was arrested on September 13, 2020, and charge-sheets were filed against him in 2020 and 2022. However, the framing of charges has been delayed in the second case against him and his attempts to seek bail have been turned down by courts.
