Turning down the bail application filed by Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student leader Umar Khalid in the larger conspiracy case related to the North-East Delhi riots 2020, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday noted that epitome of these “pre-meditated conspiracy was attack by women on police personnel which is covered under terrorist attack".
“Thus, as per the pre-meditated plan, there was an intentional blocking of roads to cause inconvenience and disruption of the essential services to the life of community residing in North-East Delhi, creating thereby panic and an alarming sense of insecurity. The attack on police personnel by women protesters in the front only followed by other ordinary people and engulfing the area into a riot is the epitome of such a pre-mediated plan and as such the same would prima facie be covered by the definition of ‘terrorist act’," said a division bench of the high court presided over by Justice Siddharth Mridul and Rajnish Bhatnagar.
The HC further noted that the protest planned was “not a typical protest", which is normal in political culture or democracy, but one far more destructive and injurious, geared towards extremely grave consequences.
Commenting on Khalid’s role in the conspiracy that led to the violence in February 2020, the High Court said, “The name of the appellant finds recurring mention from the beginning of the conspiracy till the culmination of the ensuing riots. Admittedly, he was a member of the Whats App group of Muslim students of the JNU. He participated in various meetings at Jantar Mantar, Jangpura Office, Shaheen Bagh, Seelampur, Jaffrabad and Indian Social Institute on various dates. He was a member of the DPSG group. He referred to the visit of the president of USA to India in his Amrawati Speech."
LINK BETWEEN KHALID, SHARJEEL AND OTHER ACCUSED
The court also observed that CDR analysis shows a flurry of calls between Khalid and other co-conspirators post riots, which shows his active role.
“The CDR analysis depicts that there had been a flurry of calls that happened post riots amongst the appellant and other co-accused. The cumulative statement of the protected witnesses indicates the presence and active involvement of the appellant in the protests, engineered against the CAA/NRC," the court noted.
“Admittedly these protests metamorphosed into violent riots in February 2020, which began by firstly choking public roads, then violently and designedly attacking policemen and random members of the public, whereat firearms, acid bottles, stones etc. were used, resulting in the admitted and sad loss of 53 precious lives and the destruction of property worth several crores," the order read further.
‘IDEOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SHARJEEL AND KHALID’
The court also rejected the arguments put forth by Khalid’s legal team led by Senior Advocate Trideep Pais that his client and another co-accused Sharjeel Imam had no relation and there were ideological differences.
Turning down the argument, the court said, “Having heard learned counsel for the parties and having carefully gone through the charge sheet and taking into consideration the fact that the Appellant was in constant touch with other co-accused persons, including Sharjeel Imam, who arguably is at the head of the conspiracy; at this stage, it is difficult to form an opinion that there are not reasonable grounds for believing that the accusation against the petitioner is prima facie not proved."
The observations were made while the court was hearing the bail application filed by Khalid in connection with FIR 59/2020 registered on the charges of larger conspiracy which was hatched to orchestrate violence in the garb of protests against CAA law, which ultimately led to the riots in North-East Delhi and led to the loss of 53 lives.
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