New Delhi: Activist Umar Khalid, jailed since September 2020 over what Delhi Police has alleged is his role in the northeast Delhi riots, has moved a court in Delhi to be able to make daily calls from jail.
Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat has issued a notice on the former Jawaharlal Nehru University scholar’s application and sought the response of the superintendent of the Tihar Jail, LiveLaw has reported.
The hearing will be held on January 21, tomorrow, by when the jail authorities will need to have filed their report.
The Tihar Jail had issued a circular in September 2022, ruling out inmate calling facilities for “high security prisoners” or those falling under Rule 631 of the Delhi Prison Rules.
“The Rule states that prisoners who are involved in offences against the State, terrorist activities, MCOCA, National Security Act, Public Safety Act and otherwise involved in multiple heinous offences, shall not be eligible for the facility in the interest of public safety and order,” LiveLaw notes. However, jail authorities can decide individual cases.
Khalid is charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in a cases related to the larger conspiracy behind the 2020 riots. Delhi Police’s investigation in the riots has been globally criticised as partisan and having singularly targeted those who were protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
Khalid was discharged in one of the cases related to the Delhi riots by Delhi’s Karkardooma court.
The Delhi high court on October 18 denied bail to Umar Khalid in the Delhi riots conspiracy case. Khalid was earlier denied bail by a lower court on March 23, after it was deferred thrice, and after the hearing had stretched for eight months.
Judge Rawat had, in December 2022, granted a one-week interim bail to Khalid for his sister’s wedding.
