The Supreme Court has as soon as once more postponed the hearing of a bail plea submitted by Umar Khalid, a former scholar of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), in reference to a case beneath the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) associated to an alleged conspiracy behind the North-East Delhi riots in February 2020. The bail plea is now scheduled for a hearing on January 24.
Reason behind postponement of hearing
The bench, consisting of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mittal Satish, determined to adjourn the hearing following requests for adjournment from senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Khalid, and Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, representing the Delhi police. Sibal cited his engagement in a Constitution bench hearing on the identical day, whereas ASG Raju’s unavailability prompted the Delhi police’s request for adjournment.
Initially hesitant to defer the matter, the bench in the end agreed to the adjournment after repeated pleas from Sibal and different events. The apex courtroom, nonetheless, emphasised that no additional adjournment could be granted on this matter. “The impression goes that the court is not taking up the matter,” the bench stated as counsels had been requesting adjournment.
What Sibal contended in courtroom?
Earlier, Sibal had stated sure provisions of the UAPA, together with provisions regarding terrorism, elevating funds for terrorist acts and conspiracy, didn’t apply on this case. Khalid approached the highest courtroom, difficult an October 2022 Delhi High Court verdict that denied bail to him. Arrested by Delhi Police in September 2020, the previous JNU scholar sought bail within the High Court on the grounds that he neither had any (*24*) within the violence within the metropolis’s north-east space nor any “conspiratorial connect” with some other accused within the case.
However, the Delhi police had opposed Khalid’s bail plea. He then approached the High Court, difficult the dismissal of his bail utility by the trial courtroom in March 2022. He was charged with felony conspiracy, rioting, and illegal meeting, together with a number of sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
About the case
In addition to Khalid, different people together with Sharjeel Imam, activist Khalid Saifi, JNU college students Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, Jamia Coordination Committee member Safoora Zargar, former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain, and several other others have been charged beneath the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in reference to the case. The authorized motion stems from the violence that transpired amid protests in opposition to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), leading to 53 fatalities and over 700 accidents.
(With ANI inputs)
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