Umar Khalid, who is an accused in the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case, on Friday argued before the Delhi High Court that there was no allegation of violence or raising of funds against him..The argument was made by Khalid's counsel Senior Advocate Trideep Pais before the Division Bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur. He concluded his arguments in the plea todayHe submitted that like other accused in the case, he was also pressing for bail on the ground of prolonged incarceration as an undertrial. It was also submitted that Khalid was claiming parity with the four co-accused already granted bail in the case.Pais also referred to the allegations against Khalid and said,"No recovery whatsoever from me or at my instance by way of disclosure. There is no mention of me in the FIRs [of 2020] violence. No physical evidence retrieved from me or anyone else to show my complicity in any violence. No allegation of procurement, receipt or raising of funds. No allegation of terrorist act or any violent act on my part. The only FIR [of violence] I was roped in, I have been discharged.".Pais said the sole overt act on Khalid's part was a speech he had given in Amravati, Maharashtra. "It does not call for violence. I was thousands of miles away from Delhi. There is no reaction by the crowd. It is a speech invoking Gandhian principles of non-violence and saying that we should protest against this law [Citizenship Amendment Act]," he argued.He added nobody had bothered to listen to the speech but instead the prosecution only relied upon a selective clip "that suited some kind of an outrage a politician wanted to market"..With regard to the conversations of WhatsApp groups cited as evidence by the Delhi Police, Pais said he was part of three groups but no message was sent by him on two of them.He then addressed the conversations he had in the third group."I only shared the location of a protest site when someone asked for it," he said regarding one message cited against him."When I was in Bihar, I got a call from a senior officer of Delhi Police to make request for calling off a protest at the police headquarters as he said the situation was critical and President Donald Trump was visiting Delhi ... I shared this message on the group," Pais submitted.On the meetings where Delhi Police says the conspiracy took place, Pais said,"In the alleged meeting of criminal conspiracy, the members were not even at the same place. They are randomly reading CDRs and comparing the location of accused and saying 'okay these people are there'. In another meetings, there are more people who are not even accused."Pais said activist Yogendra Yadav and other persons were also present but they have not been made accused.There is an allegation of participating in the meetings and no allegation of criminality, Pais added."The three statements which support the meeting, they do not say there is any preparation for violence.".On the claim of the meeting being a secret, Pais said the picture of the meeting was there on Facebook and there was nothing secretive. He added that the co-accused, who were part of the meeting, have already been granted bail.Pais also submitted that the prosecution allegation that there were flurry of calls between the people who were part of the group does not answer what was said by them during the calls."Many people had made calls, some of them were made accused, some were not," he added..Khalid was arrested in September 2020 and charged with criminal conspiracy, rioting, unlawful assembly as well as several other offences under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).He has been in jail since then. This is the second time he has approached the High Court for bail..The trial court had first denied bail to him in March 2022. He then approached the High Court. which also denied him relief in October 2022, prompting him to file an appeal before the top court.In May 2023, the Supreme Court sought the response of the Delhi Police in the matter. His plea before the top court was then adjourned 14 times.On February 14, 2024, he withdrew his bail plea from the Supreme Court citing a change in circumstances.A Supreme Court Bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal was slated to hear the matter on February 14 when Khalid's counsel, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, informed the Court that the bail plea was being withdrawn."We wish to withdraw due to a change of circumstances and move the trial court for appropriate relief," Sibal had said.On May 28, the trial court rejected his second bail petition leading to the present appeal before the High Court.
