Umar, Saifi discharged in northeast Delhi riots case

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Saturday cleared former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Umar Khalid and United Against Hate (UAH)’S founder Khalid Saifi from charges of rioting, vandalism, arson and promoting religious enmity in a case of the northeast Delhi riots at Khajuri Khas in February 2020.

Both will, however, continue to remain in prison in connection with another case related to the north-east Delhi riots, in which they have been booked under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for allegedly orchestrating communal violence.

Additional sessions judge (ASJ) Pulastya Pramachala discharged the suspects, noting that the evidence against them pertains to the larger conspiracy case of the northeast riots, which is pending trial before another court.

The First Information Report (FIR) in the Khajuri Khas case was registered on the statement of constable Sangram Singh, in which he stated that on February 24, 2020 at 2pm, he along with several other police officers sustained injures when a large crowd gathered on a road in the locality and started pelting stones.

The crowd set the vehicles in a nearby parking area, including his motorcycle, ablaze, the FIR said.

Besides Umar Khalid and Khalid Saifi, the court also discharged Tariq Moin Rizvi, Jagar Khan and Mohammad Illiyas.

The court directed all the accused to furnish a bond under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CRPC) for ₹10,000 with one surety in the like amount.

A detailed reasoned order of the court is yet to be uploaded on the official website.