Former JNU student leader Umar Khalid, arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the northeast Delhi riots conspiracy case, told a Delhi Court on Monday that there were various contradictions in the police's claims and called it a "cooked up" case.
Khalid, along with several others, has been booked under the stringent anti-terror law UAPA. They are accused of being the "masterminds" of the February 2020 violence, which had left 53 people dead and over 700 injured. He has sought bail in the case.
Trideep Pais, Khalid's lawyer, told Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat that the FIR was cooked up and unnecessary, and was used selectively to target and frame them.
The counsel pointed to two contradictions in Delhi Police's claims. Firstly, he showed the court a 21-minute video clip of Khalid's speech in Maharashtra, which the prosecution had allegedly labelled inflammatory.
The lawyer, pursuant to showing the video, apprised the court that his client did not give any call for violence through the speech and in fact gave a message of unity to the people.
"A message of unity based on Gandhi ji was given by Umar Khalid that day. It was termed as terror. Content is not seditious. He is talking about democratic power. He referred to Gandhi," Pais added.
Also, when asked about the video clip of Khalid's speech, the Delhi Police informed that they took the tweaked clip from media channels. The said media networks further informed that they took the clips from the Twitter handle of BJP leader Amit Malviya.
Secondly, he argued that as per the police case, Khalid conspired with other accused on January 8 to cause riots during former US President Donald Trump's visit, however, the news about his visit was announced only in February.
"These are the kind of lies they are peddling. This is a joke. This FIR is a cooked-up theory. Is it that easy to prosecute people? Do you have no responsibility as a prosecution?" Pais said.
The news has since gone viral with Delhi Police being on the receiving end of criticism. Many have come forward in support of Khalid virtually.
Here's what people are saying. Have a look.
With inputs from PTI.
