Bail Hearing In Umar Khalid Case Fixed For May 19 By Delhi High Court

The court had earlier deferred Khalid’s bail plea until May 6 in light of the hearing on the validity of Sedition law in the Supreme court which was scheduled for May 5. 

Umar Khalid

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New Delhi: On Friday, the Delhi High Court fixed the date of student-activist Umar Khalid’s bail plea for May 19. The court also set the bail plea for Sharjeel Imam on May 24, Live Law reported. 

The court had earlier deferred Khalid’s bail plea until May 6 in light of the hearing on the validity of Sedition law in the Supreme court which was scheduled for May 5. 

Khalid’s bail plea was earlier dismissed in March 2022 for the third time. While Khalid claims that the prosecution lacks evidence against him, the Delhi HC observed his speech as “offensive”, “obnoxious” and hateful during the bail hearing on April 22. 

The Division bench hearing his plea said, “These expressions being used, don’t you think they incite people? You say things like aapke purvaj angrezon ki dalali kar rahe the (your ancestors were acting as agents of the British), you don’t think it is offensive?… It is almost as if we distinctly get the impression that it was only one particular community that fought for India’s Independence.”

Umar Khalid was arrested along with several others under the stringent UAPA law after clashes broke out between pro-CAA and anti-CAA protestors in Northeast Delhi in February 2020. The clashes resulted in 53 dead and hundreds injured. 

Besides Umar Khalid, activist Khalid Saifi, JNU students Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, Jamia Coordination Committee members Safoora Zargar, former AAP councilor Tahir Hussain and several others have also been booked under the stringent law in the case.