New Delhi: Former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student leader, Umar Khalid was granted seven days of interim bail by a Delhi court on Wednesday to attend his cousin’s wedding, from December 28 to January 3. Khalid had requested a 10-day interim bail through his lawyer.
He is required to surrender on January 3. Khalid, a “veteran of sedition,” as a Delhi Police chargesheet in March 2020 described him, entered his fifth year in jail this September on terror charges. In October 2022, he was denied bail by the Delhi High Court. He later approached the Supreme Court but withdrew his Special Leave Petition. In May this year, his second regular bail plea was rejected by the trial court.
Khalid has been in custody since September 2020 after being charged with provisions under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act or UAPA in connection with the riots that erupted following protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Earlier, while rejecting his bail plea, the trial court stated: “The High Court analysed the case against the applicant and concluded that the allegations against the applicant are prima facie true, and that the embargo created by Section 43D(5) of UAPA squarely applies against the applicant. Hence, the applicant does not deserve bail. It is clear that the Hon’ble High Court has meticulously considered the applicant’s role and declined the relief sought by him,” the special judge observed in the order passed on May 28, 2024.
The court further noted that since the High Court had already dismissed the applicant’s criminal appeal on October 18, 2022, and the applicant subsequently withdrew his petition before the Supreme Court, the order of this court dated March 24, 2022, has attained finality. Therefore, the court cannot reassess the facts of the case or grant the relief requested by the applicant.
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