The Delhi Police on Thursday opposed bail petitions of Umar Khalid and others in the Supreme Court (SC), saying that that they conspired to strike at the sovereignty and integrity of the country by a “regime change operation” executed under the guise of “peaceful protest” and asserted that the conspiracy was timed to coincide with the visit of then US President Donald Trump to draw international attention.
Arguing that the alleged offences involved a deliberate attempt to destabilise the State, which warrant “jail and not bail”, the Delhi police in its affidavit said it has collected visual, documentary and technical evidence against the accused showing their complicity in engineering nationwide riots on communal lines.
Bail pleas of Khalid, Imam and others are scheduled to come up for hearing before a bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and NV Anjaria on Friday.
Khalid, Imam Gulfisha Fatima and Meeran Haider were booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and provisions of the erstwhile IPC for allegedly being the “masterminds” of the February 2020 riots, which left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.
The violence erupted during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
The Delhi Police said evidence on record suggest that the instant conspiracy was sought to be replicated and executed pan-India and in the offences that strike at the very root of integrity of India (UAPA offences), “jail and not bail” is the rule.
The Delhi Police further accused the accused persons, including Khalid, of “deliberately delaying” the trial through “frivolous and obstructive” applications. It noted that Section 207 proceedings, related to the supply of case documents, took nearly two years to complete, with 39 hearings held between September 2021 and August 2023.
The Delhi Police said the “overarching argument”of the accused that there are more than 900 witnesses in the matter and hence, there is no likelihood of trial being concluded in the present case is ex-facie misleading.
