A Delhi court on Wednesday, December 7, reserved its order on a bail plea moved by former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student leader Umar Khalid. Khalid, who has been in police custody since 2020, had applied for interim bail for two weeks to attend his sister's wedding.
The Delhi police, however, opposed the bail. "The release of the applicant is further opposed as he is very likely to spread misinformation by use of social media during his interim bail period which cannot be prevented and is likely to cause unrest in the society. He may also influence witnesses," the police stated, as per a report by LiveLaw.
A bail plea by Khalid was previously rejected by a special bench of the Delhi High Court comprising Justices Siddharth Mridul and Rajnish Bhatnagar on October 18. The student leader has been accused in the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots case. Various Sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967, were invoked against all the accused in the case.
While denying him bail in October, the High Court had observed that Khalid had been an accused from the beginning of the riots till the end. The bench also noted that he was part of controversial WhatsApp groups and joined meetings, wherein the conspiracy of the riots took place, as per LiveLaw.
