India News | Delhi Riots: Gulfisha, Khalid Saifi Seek Bail in HC in UAPA Case
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. Student activist Gulfisha Fatima, founder of 'United Against Hate' Khalid Saifi and others on Monday sought bail before the Delhi High Court in a UAPA case connected to the February 2020 violence.
New Delhi, Nov 25 (PTI) Student activist Gulfisha Fatima, founder of 'United Against Hate' Khalid Saifi and others on Monday sought bail before the Delhi High Court in a UAPA case connected to the February 2020 violence.
A bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur will hear the matter on December 6 along with a similar plea by former JNU student Umar Khalid.
The accused persons sought bail on account of their prolonged incarceration of over four years in the case under the anti-terror law, emphasising the trial was not likely to conclude any time soon.
The bench listed a few cases, including the bail plea of student activist Sharjeel Imam in the UAPA case, for hearing on December 12.
Khalid, Imam and several others have been booked under the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and IPC provisions for allegedly being a part of a "larger conspiracy" and the "masterminds" of the February 2020 riots, which left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.
The violence took place during the CAA and NRC protests.
The cases are being heard afresh by the high court after a change in the bench hearing them.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Gulfisha, submitted the trial court proceedings were still at the stage of arguments on framing of charges and her alleged associates Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal were granted bail by the high court in 2021.
"There is no occasion for her to be inside. There is no actual participation in riots," argued Sibal.
Senior advocate Rebecca John sought bail on behalf of Saifi on similar grounds.
"There are 897 witnesses. Arguments on charge are going on. The first accused is arguing (in trial court)," she said adding her client was a victim of custodial violence on the contrary and entitled to bail on parity with the co-accused.
She said there was no communal violence at the protest site being run by Saifi in Khajuri Khas and neither did he make any inflammatory speeches nor any incriminatory material was recovered from him.
John contended the delay in conclusion of trial court proceedings was not attributable to the accused and the police selectively arrested people in the FIR.
Senior advocate Salman Khurshid appeared for president of alumni association of Jamia Millia Islamia Shifa-ur-Rehman and argued he was not involved in any incriminatory act and no act of violence was attributed to him.
All the bail applications, except Umar Khalid's, were filed in 2022 and were heard by different benches from time to time.
All accused were arrested by the Delhi police on different days following the violence in February, 2020.
After the dismissal of his bail plea by the high court in October 2022, Umar Khalid again moved court for bail in the case.
On October 18, 2022, the high court upheld the dismissal of the first bail plea and said the city police's allegations against him were prima facie true.
The anti-CAA protests "metamorphosed into violent riots", which "prima facie seemed to be orchestrated at the conspiratorial meetings" and the statements of the witnesses indicate his "active involvement" in the protests, it added.
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)