Umar Khalid’s bail plea in northeast Delhi riots ‘larger conspiracy’ case dismissed

Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad, however, had argued that the judgments granting bail to three accused people—Asif Iqbal Tanha, Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal—cannot be relied on as precedent and that every other accused cannot be entitled to parity.

“People on bail are stalling the trial so that people in custody can take benefits of delay,” he added.

Khalid’s advocate, Trideep Pais, had also argued that not a single statement by witnesses relied on by the prosecution attracted a terrorism charge against him. “The accused has not committed any terrorist act… There is not a single seizure from him,” he said.

Prasad, however, argued that Khalid had amplified his narrative as part of a conspiracy, citing his different chats with people with a social media following. He also said that all the events (or instances) in the “conspiracy” must be read together and not in isolation.

“…The name of the accused appeared from the beginning till the culmination of the conspiracy,” Prasad said, adding that Khalid’s involvement was part of a “pre-made plan”.

Prasad also alleged that links to different news outlets were shared to “expose the Delhi Police” and that Khalid had requested several “actors” to “amplify” the links. Certain hashtags were shared with many influential people, who were asked to retweet them, according to the prosecutor.

He had also argued that Khalid’s WhatsApp chats also revealed that he had a habit of creating social media narratives to influence bail hearings.