A Delhi court on Tuesday denied bail to Jamia student Meeran Haider in the Delhi riots UAPA larger conspiracy case.
The order was passed by Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat, who said that there were reasonable grounds for believing that the accusation against the accused were “prima facie” true, hence, “the embargo created by Section 43D of UAPA applies for grant of bail to the accused and also, the embargo contained in Section 437 of CrPC.”
The prosecution, led by Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad, had told the court that Haider, along with 17 other accused persons, including former JNU student Umar Khalid, and Pinjra Tod activists Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, had carefully planned the north-east Delhi riots in 2020 by holding several secret meetings and coordinating their activities through WhatsApp groups.
SPP Prasad had also argued that sit-in protests leading up to the riots were carefully planned and its sites were strategically chosen close to 25 mosques.
The court had recently dismissed Umar Khalid’s bail plea in the same case. Earlier, it had dismissed the bail plea of other co-accused, Tasleem Ahmed and Gulfisha Fatima.
