The Delhi High Court on Wednesday denied bail to activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the UAPA case concerning the alleged larger conspiracy behind the February 2020 riots in north-east Delhi.
A bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Dinesh Bhatt dismissed their third bail pleas, saying it could not modify the Supreme Court's January 5 order. That order allowed them to seek bail after the examination of protected witnesses was completed or one year had elapsed from the date of the order, whichever was earlier.
Khalid and Imam face charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act over allegations that they were among the masterminds of the riots, which killed 53 people and injured more than 700. The violence broke out during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, and the National Register of Citizens.
Activist Khalid Saifi and former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain are among the others accused in the alleged conspiracy case, investigated by Delhi Police's Special Cell.
Khalid and Imam approached the high court after the trial court rejected their bail applications for the third time on July 4. Imam was arrested in the case on August 25, 2020, and Khalid on September 13, 2020. Delhi Police opposed their pleas, alleging that the two were the “masterminds” of the riots.
NALSAR Students Screen Documentary On Umar Khalid
On September 24, a group of students from the city-based NALSAR University of Law organised a screening of a documentary on jailed activist Umar Khalid on campus. The screening of the documentary, "Prisoner No. 626710 is Present", directed by filmmaker Lalit Vachani, was organised late on Wednesday evening "in solidarity."
The screening comes against the backdrop of the documentary's recent cancellation at the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Hyderabad. The IIIT-Hyderabad issued "disciplinary warnings" to eight students associated with an independent campus platform that sought to initiate conversations on caste, merit and politics, stating the group was not authorised by the institute.
The undergraduates are associated with 'No Tyrants, No Silence' (NTNS), a platform that had proposed the screening of a documentary on jailed activist Khalid on the campus on September 18, drawing objections from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). The screening was subsequently cancelled.
Earlier, on September 17, the CBFC had said public screening of a documentary that had not been certified by it would violate the Cinematograph Act unless a specific exemption had been obtained, referring to the proposed screening of "Prisoner No. 626710 is Present."
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