The Delhi High Court, on Friday, December 11, granted bail to student activist Umar Khalid for 14 days, from December 16 to 29 in order to attend his sister’s wedding. Umar Khalid, along with several others was arrested under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in the 2020 Delhi riots case.
Others involved in the case include Athar Khan, Khalid Saifi, Mohd Saleem Khan, Shifa ur Rehman, Meeran Haider, Gulfisha Fatima and Shadab Ahmed. The accused have been behind bars since September 2020.
Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai directed him to furnish a bond of Rs 20,000 and two sureties for the bail.
The court set the condition that Umar should not use social media during his bail period and should not meet anybody outside of family and friends
The judge also directed that he was restricted to his house or places where the ceremonies are conducted and that he should not contact any witnesses in the case and that he should provide his phone number to the investigating officer
The court asked him to surrender on the evening of December 29 before the prison authorities.
Umar is facing charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in a case linked to the alleged larger conspiracy behind the communal violence that rocked north-east Delhi in February 2020.
The Delhi High Court had earlier, on September 2, denied bail to Umar, Sharjeel and seven other accused, including Meeran Haider, Gulfisha Fatima, Athar Khan, Shifa-ur-Rehman, Mohd Saleem Khan, Shadab Ahmed, Khalid Saifi, and Tasleem Ahmed.
All of them were arrested during widespread protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
They moved the Supreme Court, which has reserved its judgement.
The 2020 violence had erupted amid nationwide protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The unrest resulted in the deaths of 53 people and left over 700 injured.
The controversial CAA, which was passed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government in 2019, sought to fast-track citizenship for illegal migrants who came to India from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, or Pakistan and belong to the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, or Christian religious communities. The Act notably excluded Muslims, triggering countrywide protests alleging that the legislation went against the tenets of the Indian Constitution.