Delhi HC Allows Umar Khalid Three-Day Interim Bail to Attend to Mother's Surgery
New Delhi: The Delhi high court has granted three days of interim bail to scholar and activist Umar Khalid in the case in which the Delhi police alleges he was part of a conspiracy behind the 2020 riots in northeast Delhi. Khalid, an undertrial, has been jailed under provisions of the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act since 2020.
A trial court had on May 19 denied him this relief that he had sought to attend rituals after the death of his uncle and to attend to his mother before and after a surgery on June 2.
A division bench of Justice Prathiba M. Singh and Justice Madhu Jain ordered that he be released from June 1 to June 3 on strict conditions, LiveLaw has reported. Khalid had asked for 15 days of interim bail.
Senior Advocate Trideep Pais, appearing for Khalid, told the court that even in the past, he was granted interim bail for his sister's wedding and twice afterwards.
The LiveLaw report noted that Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, representing Delhi Police, claimed that Khalid's mother has to undergo "only a minor surgery and that his sisters can take care of her."
He claimed that Khalid can visit her and come back in a day, with police escort.
The court, in granting this three-day reprieve, said it was taking an empathetic view. "Khalid will have only one mobile and will remain in continued touch with the Investigating Officer," the court said.
The trial court, in its refusal, had said that if his ties with his uncle were so immediate and thick then he would have asked for release at the time of his death and not afterwards, for a Chehlum ceremony.
The court made a similar claim as ASG Raju on his mother's surgery.
The Supreme Court in January this year rejected bail for Khalid and scholar Sharjeel Imam, both of whom have been incarcerated for over five years. It granted bail to Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Shifa Ur Rehman, Shadab Ahmed, and Mohammad Saleem Khan.
On May 18, Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan of the apex court expressed reservations against that order.
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