Supreme Court hears bail pleas of Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid, and others in the 2020 Delhi riots UAPA case; next hearing on November 3.
Supreme Court of India hears bail pleas of Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid, and others in the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case (Photo: File)
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday heard arguments on pleas of Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid, Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider and Shifa Ur Rehman challenging the Delhi High Court order which denied them bail in the UAPA case linked to the alleged larger conspiracy behind the 2020 north-east Delhi riots.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Umar Khalid, told the top court that he was not even in Delhi when the riots took place. He said the prosecution has been delaying the trial and then blaming Khalid for the same.
Senior advocate Siddhartha Dave, representing the Imam, argued that he did not make any calls for violence and was only exercising his right to peaceful protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
He said that he never made any calls for violence but only called for peaceful blockades.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Fatima, said that there was no evidence of any violence at the protest sites where she was present. He said there was an extraordinary delay in the trial, and Fatima has been in jail for over five years as an undertrial.
He said Fatima is the only woman accused currently in custody.
A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and NV Anjaria was hearing bail pleas filed by Khalid, Imam, Fatima and three other accused in the Delhi riots larger conspiracy case. It has now posted the matter for hearing on November 3.
The Delhi police on Thursday objected to their bail pleas, saying the alleged offences involved a deliberate attempt to destabilise the state.
Delhi police, in an affidavit, said that the conspiracy was pre-planned to be executed at the time when the US president was to make an official visit to India, and thus was done so as to draw the attention of international media and to make the issue of CAA a global issue.
“The materials on record, including the chats referencing US President Donald Trump, establish beyond doubt that the instant conspiracy was pre-planned to be executed at the time when the US President was to make an official visit to India. This was done so as to draw the attention of international media and to make the issue of CAA a global issue by portraying it as an act pogrom of Muslims community in India,” the affidavit of Delhi police states.
The issue of CAA was carefully chosen as to serve as a “radicalising catalyst” camouflaged in the name of “peaceful protest”, the affidavit said.
It further stated that the “deep-rooted, premeditated and pre-planned conspiracy” hatched by the petitioners resulted in the death of 53 persons, large-scale damage to public property, leading to the registration of 753 FIRS in Delhi alone.
Evidence on record suggests that the instant conspiracy was sought to be replicated and executed PAN India, said the Delhi police.
The Delhi police filed its affidavit on bail pleas of Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid, Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider and Shifa Ur Rehman, challenging the Delhi High Court order, which denied them bail in the UAPA case linked to the alleged larger conspiracy behind the 2020 north-east Delhi riots.
The Delhi police, in its affidavit, further said that ocular and irrefutable documentary as well as technical evidence against the petitioners showed their “intrinsic, deep-rooted and fervent complicity in engineering a nationwide riot on communal lines.”
“The conspiracy hatched, nurtured and executed by the petitioner was to strike at the very heart of the sovereignty and integrity of the country by destroying the communal harmony, instigating the crowd not only to abrogate public order but to instigate them to an extent of armed rebellion,” it added.
It further said that the international theory developed in the past few years has termed these kinds of organised/sponsored protests as “Regime Change Operation(s)”.
