The Delhi Police strongly opposed the release of student activists Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and three others booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in the 2020 Northeast Delhi conspiracy case. Police argued before the Supreme Court that the alleged offenses involved a deliberate attempt to destabilize the state and therefore warranted “prison, not bail,” media reported on Thursday.
In a 177-page affidavit filed on October 30, the Delhi Police claimed that the violence that unfolded in February 2020 was not a spontaneous escalation of protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), but part of a coordinated “regime change operation” carried out under the guise of civil dissent, a Times Hindustan report said.
This comes a day before the matter is scheduled to be heard,
The aim of the plan, according to the indictment cited by HT, was to ignite social tension during the visit of US President Donald Trump so that the riots would be “internationalized” and the Indian government would be seen as discriminatory.
Two days ago, Justices Aravind Kumar and NV Anjaria asked the enforcement agency to consider whether the accused, some of whom have spent nearly five years in judicial custody as sub-trials, could be granted bail.
Under the UAPA, before granting bail, courts must first satisfy themselves that the charges do not, even at a prima facie level, indicate involvement in terrorist activity. The Delhi Police claimed that the threshold was not met here.
The affidavit filed through advocate Rajat Nair claimed that investigators have collected ocular, documentary and technical evidence to prove that the accused were part of a “deep-rooted conspiracy” hatched on communal lines. The encrypted chats and messages, police say, indicate the protests were calibrated to coincide with Trump’s visit in February 2020 to ensure global visibility.
The prosecution, the Hindustan Times report said, pointed to incidents of rioting that broke out around the same time in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and Bihar, describing it as evidence of a “pan-Indian plan” rather than an isolated flare-up.
The accused, Khalid, Imam, Meeran Haider, Gulfisha Fatima and Shifa-ur-Rehman, claimed that they were exercising their right to peaceful protest and that the “larger conspiracy” case was an attempt to criminalize dissent.
The Supreme Court is expected to examine both the delay issue and the legal threshold under the UAPA on Friday. Imam has been in custody since January 2020. Khalid was arrested in September 2020. The other co-accused have spent comparable periods behind bars.
