A court in Delhi on Thursday granted bail to activist Umar Khalid in one of the cases related to the communal violence that broke out in the Capital in February 2020, Live Law reported. However, he will remain in prison due to the charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in another case related to the Delhi violence.
Khalid was granted bail in connection with a case registered at the Khajuri Khas Police Station in which 15 people, including suspended Aam Aadmi Party Councillor Tahir Hussain, were also arrested.
“The applicant cannot be made to incarcerate in jail for infinity merely on account of the fact that other persons who were part of the riotous mob have to be identified and arrested in the matter,” the court noted on Thursday, while granting bail to Khalid.
Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Yadav directed Khalid to submit a personal bond of Rs 20,000 and one surety of the same amount.
Another bail condition was that Khalid must not tamper with the evidence in the case or influence a witness in any manner. The activist was also asked to appear before the court for every hearing of the case.
Also read: Delhi riots: What evidence does the Delhi Police have against Umar Khalid?
Khalid was arrested on October 1 in connection with the Delhi riots case. Clashes had broken out between the supporters of the Citizenship Amendment Act and those opposing it between February 23 and February 26 in North East Delhi, claiming 53 lives and injuring hundreds. The police were accused of either inaction or complicity in some instances of violence, mostly in Muslim neighbourhoods.
He was also arrested under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in September in a separate case relating to a larger conspiracy in the violence. The Delhi Police had on November 22 filed a chargesheet against Khalid and student activists Sharjeel Imam and Faizan Khan in the case.
In the 200-page chargesheet, the police claimed that Khalid had “remotely controlled” the Delhi riots. The activist was accused of orchestrating the violence during United States President Donald Trump’s visit to Delhi.
The Delhi Police claim the violence was part of a larger conspiracy to defame Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and was planned by those who organised the protests against the amended Citizenship Amendment Act. They also claimed the protestors had secessionist motives and were using “the facade of civil disobedience” to destabilise the government. The police have arrested several activists and students based on these “conspiracy” charges.
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