Umar Khalid remanded to judicial custody till October 22

Former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student leader Umar Khalid, who was arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act or UAPA, has been remanded to judicial custody till October 22 by a Delhi court on Thursday. He was produced in the court after his 10-day police custody ended on Thursday.

The student leader was arrested on the night of September 13 under UAPA for his alleged role in the 2020 Delhi riots. He was arrested by a special cell of the Delhi police after 11 hours of interrogation. He was also charged with sedition and 18 other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which includes murder and attempt to murder.

According to Bar and Bench, the Prosecution argued that the Delhi riots were a part of “a premeditated, deep-rooted conspiracy” that was hatched by Khalid and his associates from various organisations.

The Delhi police, in their chargesheet, claimed that Khalid gave provocative speeches at various places that instigated people to come out to the streets during US President Donald Trump’s visit in February, so that propaganda of minorities being persecuted in India gains international coverage.

Umar was questioned for a couple of hours by the Delhi Police Crime Branch on September 2 in connection with the riots. He was also quizzed by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police regarding an alleged conspiracy behind the riots. His mobile phone was also seized. While seeking his custody, the Delhi police claimed that 40 GB of data extracted from Khalid’s mobile phone and they want to question him about the documents that ran into 11 lakh pages.

Communal clashes broke out in Northeast Delhi as the violence between supporters of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and those against it grew out of control on February 24. At least 53 people were killed in the violence while 200 people were injured. Two policemen died and 108 police personnel were injured during the attempt to prevent the violence. 

The Delhi police filed a 17,000 page chargesheet on September 16 and named 15 people as accused in the chargesheet. All of the accused have been booked under the UAPA. However, it does not name Khalid.