North East Delhi riots: Umar Khalid’s statement objectionable, but not a terrorist act: Court
New Delhi, 31 May. Hearing the bail plea of JNU student Umar Khalid, the Delhi High Court said that his speech was not correct but it cannot be called a terrorist act. The court said that Umar Khalid’s language in his speech at Amaravati in Maharashtra was not correct, but it cannot be called a terrorist act nor could he have been arrested in a case registered under the UAPA Act. In fact, on March 24, the lower court had rejected the bail of Umar Khalid, after which it was challenged in the Delhi High Court.
Hearing the bail plea, a bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Rajneesh Bhatnagar said that the language of speech being wrong does not make it a terrorist act, we understand it. The language of speech can be termed as harmful but cannot be called terrorist activity. During the hearing of the case in the court, the prosecution gave its arguments. During this, the speech given by Umar Khalid on 17 February 2020 was mentioned. The next hearing of the matter will be on July 4.
The matter was heard by a bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Rajneesh Bhatnagar. A case was registered against Umar Khalid for his role in the February 2020 riots in North East Delhi. During the hearing, advocate Sanaya Kumar raised questions on the statement of the witness. He said that the meeting held in Seelampur was not confidential, nor was it held in any secret office. Let us inform that on the bail petition against Sharjeel Imam, the court has issued a notice to the Delhi Police. Sharjeel Imam has also sought bail by filing a petition in the court in the sedition case on May 27. The court has issued a notice to Delhi Police to answer in this matter.
