Those booked by police under draconian laws: Umar Khalid

Former Jawaharlal Nehru University student Umar Khalid was booked by the Delhi Police under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in connection with the northeast Delhi communal violence in February, besides Jamia students Meeran Haider and Safoora Zargar.

Notably, Khalid was one of the students arrested in the JNU sedition case for allegedly raising anti-national slogans at an event organised in the memory of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru in the varsity campus in 2016. Northeast Delhi was the epicentre of the anti-CAA violence in Delhi in February.

Communal clashes broke out in the vicinity over the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act. The clashes coincided with US President Donald Trump’s India visit in the last week of February. Hundreds of women and children blocked the roads under the Jafrabad Metro Station on February 23.

The protest had led to a pro-CAA rally by BJP leader Kapil Mishra following which riots broke out in Northeast Delhi. Haider is a PhD student and also a member of the committee headed by Safoora Zargar. He is also the president of RJD youth wing’s Delhi unit.

According to the FIR, the communal violence was a ‘premeditated conspiracy’ which was allegedly hatched by Khalid and two others. It said Khalid had allegedly given provocative speeches at two different places and appealed to the citizens to come out on streets and block the roads during Trump’s visit to attract internation- al attention.

They have also been booked for the offences of sedition, murder, attempt to murder, promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and rioting. Haider’s advocate Akram Khan said he had filed a bail plea for Haider, but it had to be with- drawn after he was informed that UAPA charges had been slapped against him.