A Delhi court on Thursday posted the hearing on the bail application of former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student leader Umar Khalid, arrested under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in connection with the north-east Delhi riots, for July 27.
Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat asked the prosecution to respond to Mr. Khalid’s bail plea by the day following the hearing.
Mr. Khalid was arrested on September 13, 2020 in the north-east Delhi riots case being investigated by Special Cell, where charges under the anti-terror law UAPA have been invoked.
Besides Mr. Khalid, Jamia Millia Islamia student Asif Iqbal Tanha, JNU students Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, Jamia Coordination Committee members Safoora Zargar, former Aam Aadmi Party councillor Tahir Hussain, and several others, have also been booked under the UAPA.
The Delhi High Court had recently granted bail to Mr. Tanha, Ms. Narwal and Ms. Kalita in the UAPA case, saying the state had blurred the line between the right to protest and terrorist activity in its anxiety to suppress dissent.
