A Delhi court on Monday sent former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Umar Khalid to 10 days in police custody, a day after his arrest under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or UAPA, for his alleged role in a conspiracy behind the riots in the northeast district of the national capital.
Khalid’s lawyer, Trideep Pais, told the court that his client was not in Delhi between February 23 and 26, when the riots occurred; that he opposed the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA, and was not ashamed of his position; and that the police had not yet produced evidence that Khalid had incited the protests.
The court accepted the police request for pre-trial detention on the grounds that the 33-year-old must face a large volume of technical data and must be sent to custody so that an effective investigation can be carried out.
Several activists and members of civil society have opposed Khalid’s arrest on allegedly flimsy grounds and have demanded to know why the police have not taken action against the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Kapil Mishra, who was seen giving an incendiary speech in northeast Delhi. a day before the violence broke out on February 24.
They also asked why other BJP leaders were not reserved for speeches delivered in the run-up to the Delhi elections, just weeks before the riots.
Nine retired IPS officers wrote to Delhi Police Commissioner SN Srivastava on Monday saying they “hurt” that the police implicated anti-CAA protesters while “releasing all those who instigated the violence and are associated with the ruling party. “. Although the letter did not mention any names, BJP leaders Anurag Thakur and Parvesh Verma were criticized at the time for speeches and slogans before the Delhi elections.
Mishra, who denies all the charges, posted a video on Monday congratulating police on arresting Khalid and “people like him”, and compared the riots to the 11/26 Mumbai terrorist attacks.
Delhi police introduced Khalid to additional sessions judge Amitabh Rawat in a virtual hearing at Karkardooma court on Monday afternoon.
Special counsel Amit Prasad said Khalid had to grapple with nearly 1.1 million page documents and “huge technical data.”
The judge allowed Khalid’s lawyer to interact with his client for half an hour every day, while asking police officers to stay out of audible range during meetings. He also ordered a deputy police commissioner (DCP) to make arrangements to ensure Khalid’s safety during police pretrial detention after Pais raised concerns for his client’s safety should he be removed from the police station.
Fifty-three people were killed and around 400 injured in the northeast Delhi riots, which began as clashes between pro and anti-CAA and protesters before taking on a common color.
The police said that an examination of witnesses revealed that Khalid was coordinating protest sites in Delhi in collusion with other radical groups.
“More interrogations are needed to unearth a deep-rooted conspiracy and gather hard evidence to catch / arrest the remaining conspirators behind these riots. During the course of the investigation, the names of a few more suspects and the defendants named above have also emerged. they must be extensively questioned about those suspects to obtain their exact details for further investigation, ”said the police arrest request.
Khalid was arrested around 11 p.m. Sunday after 10 hours of questioning. He was arrested in a case registered by the Delhi police special cell investigating an alleged larger conspiracy behind the Delhi riots. The case has been registered under strict sections, including sections 13, 16, 17 and 18 of the UAPA that refer to illicit activities, terrorist acts, fundraising for terrorist acts and conspiracy.
‘Planned riots’
In the same case, the police arrested at least 11 other people, including former congressional councilor Ishrat Jahan, former councilor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), former councilor Tahir Hussain, activists Khalid Saifi, Safoora Zargar and Gufisha Khatoon, students. by Jamia Millia Islamia, and Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, both JNU students and members of the Pinjra Tod women’s collective.
Police also alleged: “The riots were planned to occur during or prior to the visit of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, in February 2020.”
“My son was targeted for participating in protests against the CAA and the National Registry of Citizens across the country,” said Khalid’s father, Sayed Qasim Rasool Ilyas.
Khalid has been named in multiple First Information Reports (FIRs) and charge sheets filed by the police in riot cases. Police have alleged that Khalid orchestrated the riots together with AAP councilor Hussain and activist Khalid Saifi, a member of the group United Against Hate. In at least four charge sheets filed in city courts, police have said that Khalid met with the two men at the Shaheen Bagh protest site on January 8, during which they discussed a plan to orchestrate the riots. .
In a Twitter post, defender Prashant Bhushan criticized Delhi police for arresting Khalid but failing to act against Kapil Mishra.
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