Breaking | Umar Khalid's Speech Prima Facie Not Acceptable, Obnoxious: Delhi High Court While Issuing Notice On Bail Plea

The Delhi High Court on Friday issued notice on the appeal filed by student activist Umar Khalid challenging the Trial Court's order refusing him bail in the Delhi riots larger conspiracy case.A division bench comprising of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar also said that the speech delivered by Umar Khalid at Amravati, which finds mention in the FIR in question, was obnoxious, hateful, offensive and prima facie not acceptable. While the counsel appearing for Umar Khalid read the relevant portions from the speech before the Court, Justice Mridul orally remarked thus:"All this is offensive and obnoxious. Don't you think these expressions used are offensive to people? These are offensive per se. It's almost as if we get an impression that only one community fought for India's independence."He added "Did Gandhiji ever employ this language? Did Shaheed Bhagat Singh ever employ such language? We have no qualms about permitting free speech but what are you saying?""Does it not attract sec. 153A or 153B of Indian Penal Code?"On Court's query as to what was Khalid accused of, Senior Advocate Trideep Pais appearing for Umar Khalid argued that he was accused of conspiracy and that he was not even present in the city when the incidents, of which Khalid is accused of, are alleged to have happened. "Silent whisper. Not present, nothing recovered, no overt act ascribed to me, no money recovered," Pais argued.At the outset, Pais also told Court that the speech in question was in the context of protest and that it was in that context that Umar Khalid spoke of electoral democracy and rule of law. "We can say that prima facie this is not acceptable," Justice Mridul orally said.He added "Everything else may be acceptable within the four corners of democracy and free speech. But is not acceptable."The Court therefore issued notice on the plea and directed the prosecution to file a short reply within three days. The matter will now be heard on April 27. Umar Khalid was denied bail by city's Karkardooma Court on March 24. He was arrested on 13 September, 2020 and has been under custody since.About the Trial Court OrderAdditional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat was of the view that Khalid had connectivity with many accused persons and that his presence throughout in several WhatsApp groups during the period beginning from the passing of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in December 2019 till the February 2020 riots, had to be read in totality and not piecemeal.Rejecting the submission made by Senior Advocate Trideep Pais that although Umar Khalid was part of the MSJ and DPSG Whatsapp groups but he had not written many messages in the said groups which were provocative or incriminatory, the Court had observed:"However, the fact that he was part of such groups created for specific objects and his acts or presence throughout the period beginning from the passing of the CAB Bill in December 2019 till the February 2020 riots, as mentioned above, has to be read in totality and not piecemeal. He has connectivity with many accused persons."On the other contention raised by Pais that Umar Khalid was not present in Delhi during the time of riots, the Court was of the view that in a case of a conspiracy, it is not necessary that every accused should be present at the spot."The contention that accused Umar Khalid is a researcher and his bent of mind can be assessed from his doctoral thesis on Welfare aspects of Adivasis of Jharkhand and other writings is not a relevant consideration while deciding the bail application. If the bent of mind is to be assessed in this manner, then the co-accused Sharjeel Imam has written thesis on riots but any thesis or research work, by itself, done by any accused cannot be a ground for assessing mens rea or his bent of mind. A bail application must be decided on facts presented in chargesheet," the Court had observed.Thus, perusing the chargesheet and accompanying documents, the Court was of the opinion that allegations against the Umar Khalid were prima facie true and hence the bar for grant of bail as per Section 43D of the UAPA was attracted.The Court noted that Umar Khalid's name finds a recurring mention from the beginning of the conspiracy till the riots. He was a member of WhatsApp groups of Muslim students of JNU. He participated in various meetings. He gave reference to Mr.Donald Trump in his Amaravati speech. He was instrumental in creation of JCC. He was also mentioned in the flurry of calls that happened post-riots.It stated that as per the chargesheet, taken at face value, there was a "premeditated conspiracy" of the disruptive chakkajam and a preplanned protest at 23 different planned sites in Delhi which was to escalate to confrontational chakkajam and incitement to violence and resulting in riots.Further, there was intentional blocking of roads to cause inconvenience and to cause disruption of the essential services to the life of community residing in North East Delhi, ...

Breaking | Umar Khalid's Speech Prima Facie Not Acceptable, Obnoxious: Delhi High Court While Issuing Notice On Bail Plea

Nupur Thapliyal

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