Delhi HC to hear Umar Khalid's bail plea everyday starting May 23

The Delhi High Court on Friday decided to hear the bail plea of Umar Khalid daily from Monday onward to complete the hearing before the summer vacations begin. 

Umar Khalid has challenged the trial court order of March 24 denying him bail in the larger conspiracy of North East Delhi riots case. A Division Bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar on Friday said will hear the arguments as a special bench on the bail plea on daily basis from May 23, 2022.

The Division Bench of Justice Mukta Gupta and Justice Mini Pushkarna on Thursday had directed to list the matter before the bench headed by Justice Mridul as it had heard the matter partly earlier.

READ | Light showers, thunder bring relief for Delhiites, no heatwave predicted for a week

During the hearing on Friday, the bench objected to some portion of the speech delivered at Amaravati mentioning Prime Minister Modi. Justice Bhatnagar asked can such words be used for Prime Minister. The Senior Advocate responded by saying that those words were used as a metaphor to show that the reality and practical issues of the country were being hidden in reality. 

However, Justice Bhatnagar said, "Some other words could have been used for the Prime Minister." Justice Bhatnagar also asked the Senior Advocate Tridip Pais if Mahatama Gandhi had ever used such words for a queen. 

"Your client (Umar Khalid) had said again and again that we will follow Mahatama Gandhi," he said. The bench also asked what Umar Khalid mean when he used the words 'Inquilab' and 'Krantikari' in the Amaravati Speech. Pais apprised the court about the dictionary meaning of these words.

READ | Amid rising cases of Monkeypox around the world, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya says THIS

Justice Mridul said, "You used the expression inqilab and Krantikari. All of us know what it means. You used the expression inqilab zindabad. That's what we asked you."

Senior Advocate Pais responded to the court by referring to a historian that the word inqilab means revolution whereas the word inqilab zindabad means long live the revolution.

At the outset of the hearing, Pais produced a transcription of the speech delivered at Amravati and some other documents to explain the meaning of the words. He also referred to the portion of the chargesheet which pointed out the allegations of the prosecution that Khalid was involved in terror activities.

During the earlier hearing, Justice Mridul had said that the speech Umar Khalid delivered at Amravati was 'obnoxious' and that the criticism of the government is allowed, but a 'Lakshman Rekha' should not be crossed.vSpecial Public Prosecutor (SPP) Amit Prasad informed the court that he would require four to five hours to complete his arguments.