New Delhi: A Delhi court recently discharged Umar Khalid and Khalid Saifi in a rioting case while saying that the two were facing charges in the “umbrella conspiracy” case relating to the February 2020 communal violence.
“As far as accused Khalid Saifi and Umar Khalid are concerned, I find that allegations made against them relate to Umbrella Conspiracy, rather than conspiracy peculiar to incident investigated in this case i.e. the incident at Pradeep’s parking…larger conspiracy to incite riots in Delhi, is already subject matter of consideration in FIR 59/2020, PS Crime branch, therefore, these two accused are entitled for discharge in the present case,” Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala said, according to Bar and Bench.
Both Saifi and Khalid are facing Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act cases pertaining the riots and are in jail. The case from which they were discharged, according to the Indian Express, was registered based on a statement by a constable who was on duty when a mob gathered in the Chandbagh area on February 24, 2020.
The court had also discharged co-accused Tariq Moin Rizvi, Jagar Khan and Mohd Illiyas. Eleven other people, including former Aam Aadmi Party leader Tahir Hussain, have been charged in the rioting case that Khalid and Saifi were discharged from. The judge claimed that there were two different conspiracies at play in the violence, and that is why the two were being discharged from this particular case:
“There is concept of an Umbrella Conspiracy being the larger conspiracy and several smaller conspiracies hatched under the larger conspiracy…Planning to ignite a communal riot at a large level and taking steps for prosecution of such plan, could be Umbrella Conspiracy and participants to this conspiracy may or may not be part of each smaller conspiracies and vice versa. In pursuance to the objective of the larger conspiracy, when smaller plans are made and executed to cause incident of riot at a particular place or area, involving some other persons (perhaps including local persons), this becomes a case of smaller conspiracy under Umbrella Conspiracy.”
The others who remain charged in the case, the judge continued, had targeted Hindus and disrupted peace:
“Every member of the mob assembled there [at Hussain’s house], participated in achieving this object i.e. to target Hindus. Such preparations made and this house being used as a base, seen along with the conduct of the members of this mob, show that they were acting out of prior meeting of their mind and with a clear-cut objective in mind, to harm Hindus in every possible manner.”