SC adjourns hearing on Umar Khalid's plea seeking bail in UAPA case
The Hindu
SC adjourns Umar Khalid's plea for bail in UAPA case for a week; HC had rejected it citing prima facie evidence of 'terrorist act'. Khalid seeks bail on grounds of no criminal role in riots & no 'conspiratorial connect' with other accused. Police allege 'calculated' speech.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned for a week the hearing on a plea filed by former JNU student Umar Khalid seeking bail in a case lodged under anti-terror law UAPA over his alleged involvement in the conspiracy behind the northeast Delhi riots of February 2020.
A Bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Dipankar Datta deferred the matter as senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Khalid, was not available.
Supreme Court judge Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra had on August 9 recused himself from hearing Khalid's plea.
Khalid's petition challenging the October 18, 2022 order of the Delhi High Court, which had rejected his bail plea in the matter, had come up for hearing before a bench of Justices A S Bopanna and Prashant Kumar Mishra.
The High Court had rejected Khalid's bail plea, saying he was in constant touch with other co-accused and the allegations against him were prima facie true.
The High Court had also said the actions of the accused prima facie qualified as "terrorist act" under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Activists Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, and several others have been booked under the anti-terror law UAPA and several provisions of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly being the "masterminds" of the February 2020 riots, which left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.