Umar Khalid moves Delhi High Court for interim bail, hearing today
Earlier, a Delhi court had rejected Khalid's plea for a 15-day release to attend the 40th-day ritual (chehlum) of his late uncle and to visit and take care of his mother, who is set to undergo surgery.
Delhi High Court likely to hear Umar Khalid's plea for interim bail after facing rejection in trial court. Delhi High Court Umar Khalid news: The Delhi High Court is likely to hear on Friday the interim bail plea of Umar Khalid after a Delhi court dismissed his plea in the February 2020 Northeast Delhi riots conspiracy case. Khalid had sought a 15-day release to attend the 40th-day ritual (chehlum) of his late uncle and to visit and take care of his mother, who is set to undergo surgery.
The matter is listed before the bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Madhu Jain.
The matter is listed before the bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Madhu Jain.
While dismissing Khalid’s plea on May 19, the court had said, “No doubt that on previous occasions, as mentioned by Counsel for the applicant, not only the applicant but other co-accused persons have been granted interim bail and they never flouted the conditions as imposed by the Court, but it doesn’t mean that on every occasion whenever the accused seeks bail, the Court should grant the same. The Court has to consider every fresh application on its own merits and should allow the same only when the grounds are reasonable.”
Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai was dealing with an application moved under Section 483 (special powers of high court or court of session regarding bail) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhit (BNSS), read with Section 439 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).
Delhi court findings
While denying bail, the court said that on previous occasions, as mentioned by counsel for Umar Khalid, not only the applicant but other co-accused persons have been granted interim bail, and they never flouted the conditions imposed by the court, but it doesn’t mean that the court should grant bail on every occasion that the accused seeks the same.
It added that the court has to consider every fresh application on its own merits and would allow the same only when the grounds are reasonable.
“Attending the Chehlum ceremony of his uncle is not necessary. Things would have been different if the ceremony were for a person who was in immediate relation to the applicant. Further, if the relation was so immediate and thick, the applicant would have asked for the release at the time of the death of his uncle only, and not now, after such a long time. Therefore, the Court doesn’t find this reason to be just,” the judge said.
Khalid is facing charges of criminal conspiracy under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in connection with the riots, which left 53 people dead and hundreds injured. He was arrested in 2020, and since then, there have been multiple court hearings to date.
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