The Delhi High Court on Tuesday rejected the bail plea filed by Umar Khalid in the 2020 Delhi riots case. A two-judge bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Rajneesh Bhatnagart observed that Khalid’s bail plea has no merit.
Umar Khalid, an activist, was a member of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) and was arrested on September 13, 2020. He is facing charges under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, and several others were booked under the Anti-Terrorism Act and the Indian Penal Code for “masterminding” the protests and riots in Delhi’s Jamia area and northeast Delhi in December 2019 and February 2020.
Violence broke out in these areas during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), in which 53 people were killed and over 700 were injured.