A Delhi High Court division bench Thursday transferred former JNU student Umar Khalid’s bail plea in the larger conspiracy case of Northeast Delhi riots to a different bench for hearing on Friday. Following a change in the roster, the bail plea was listed for hearing before a division bench headed by Justice Mukta Gupta on Thursday. However, the bench after going through previous orders of the case observed that the matter was part-heard before the division bench headed by Justice Siddharth Mridul. It accordingly ordered the listing of the case before the division bench of Justice Mridul and Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar on Friday, subject to orders of the Chief Justice. The division bench headed by Justice Mridul had earlier heard arguments made by senior advocate Trideep Pais, who represents Umar Khalid. The court after listening to a speech given by Umar Khalid at Amravati in Maharashtra, in February 2020, which forms part of the chargesheet against him, had asked whether it was proper to use the term "jumla" with respect to the Prime Minister and said there has to be “a line” or a “lakshman rekha” when it comes to criticism of the government. The bench on April 22 had also said that Umar Khalid’s speech at Amravati was offensive, obnoxious and hateful. “This is offensive, obnoxious. Don’t you think? These expressions being used, don’t you think they incite people? You say things like aapke purvaj angrezun ki dalali kar rahe the, you don’t think it is offensive. It is offensive per se. It is almost as if we distinctly get the impression that it was only one particular community that fought for India’s Independence,” the division bench had said after Umar Khalid’s lawyers read the contents of his speech before the court. The court was hearing the appeal against the dismissal of Umar Khalid’s bail plea by a lower court in the case. Pais has argued there was “absolutely no incitement” and no reaction among the public after his speech in Amravati. Khalid’s counsel, regarding the speech, had told the court that there was serious violence against students of Jamia Millia Islamia University in December 2019 and the speech was made in that context. “It does not refer to the communities. It refers to an organisation when the speech says that the ideological ancestors of the persons who inhabit this organisation did not participate in the freedom struggle, whereas the Jamia students were an active part of the freedom movement. He is not playing one community against the another, that is what I wanted to clarify,” Pais had submitted.
