Delhi court grants 7-day interim bail to Umar Khalid in ‘larger conspiracy’ case

New Delhi: A court here on Wednesday granted 7-day interim bail to former JNU scholar and student activist Umar Khalid, who has been behind bars since September 2020 under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in the ‘larger conspiracy’ case related to the 2020 North-East Delhi riots.

The Karkardooma Court granted interim relief to Umar Khalid from December 28 to January 3 next year to enable him to attend a family marriage.

Meanwhile, his bail plea remains pending before a bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur of the Delhi High Court. In July this year, the Delhi HC issued a notice on Khalid’s bail plea and asked the Delhi Police to file its reply.

Earlier, Justice Amit Sharma of the Delhi High Court recused himself from hearing Khalid’s plea. After this, a bench presided over by Justice Prathiba M. Singh directed the matter to be listed before a different Bench.

A Delhi court on May 28 rejected Khalid’s application seeking bail on the grounds of delay in completion of trial proceedings and parity with other co-accused who had been enlarged on bail.

Before this, a trial court in April 2022 dismissed Khalid’s first bail application, and later the Delhi High Court also rejected his appeal.

Khalid, in February this year, withdrew his special leave petition filed before the Supreme Court seeking bail due to “change in circumstances”, and sought liberty to apply afresh for bail before the trial court.

He has been booked under the stringent anti-terror law UAPA and several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

IANS