It was Umar Khalid’s second visit home since he was jailed four years ago in the “larger conspiracy” case related to the 2020 Delhi riots. And it was a visit that left the 37-year-old former JNU student leader’s family in that twilight zone between worry and hope.
“He seemed a bit weak this time. All of us noticed that,” Syed Qasim Rasool Ilyas told The Indian Express at their home in Delhi’s Jamia Nagar, hours after his son’s seven-day interim bail to attend a relative’s wedding ended on January 3. “There was some weight loss…There was also the anxiety and excitement of interim bail,” said Banojyotsna Lahiri, a Delhi-based researcher and Khalid’s close friend, speaking to this newspaper over the phone.
But then, both are hopeful, too.
From someone who was anxious and disturbed two years ago, Ilyas said he saw a changed man in Khalid this time. “This time, he’s optimistic that he will get bail soon. He thinks the fake charges against him can’t go on forever,” the father said with a smile while sipping tea. “We know this will be over soon. We all are optimistic,” said Banojyotsna. She added that despite the weight loss, “he is doing fine”.