A DELHI COURT GRANTED BAIL TO FORMER JNU LEADER UMAR KHALID

15th April 2021

A Delhi Session Court granted bail to former JNU leader Umar Khalid in connection with Khajuri Khas FIR (Delhi north-east riot). The Court held that "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."

FACTS

An FIR in the present case was registered on the statement of Constable Sangram Singh, wherein he stated that when he was on duty near Chand Bagh Pulia on 24.02.2020, a large crowd gathered on the road and started pelting stones. Thereafter, Khalid was booked u/s 109, 114, 147, 148, 149, 153-A, 186, 212, 353, 395, 427, 435, 436, 452/, 454, 505 , 34 and 120-B of IPC along with sec. 3 and 4 of Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act and sec. 25 and 27 of Arms Act.

ARGUMENT

Senior counsel for the applicant submitted that the applicant had been falsely implicated in the matter by the investigating agency on account of “political vendetta to muzzle the dissent”. The applicant was not physically present at the spot of crime (SOC) on the date of the alleged incident, and that is the reason he is neither visible in any CCTV footage/ viral video, nor any of the witnesses have specifically named him to be part/member of the riotous mob. It is further argued that there is no other independent or legally admissible evidence of criminal conspiracy available against the applicant.

Author: Papiha Ghoshal

Pc- scroll India