NEW DELHI: Umar Khalid is being lumped in with Sharjeel Imam who calls for a deeply communal protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act, argued the former’s advocate in the High Court on Monday. During the hearing for his bail in the Delhi riots case, the JNU student activist’s counsel said that there is no ideological meeting of minds between the two.
A bench of Justices Sidharth Mridul and Rajnish Bhatnagar was hearing the appeal filed by Umar Khalid challenging the trial court’s order which refused him bail in a case involving UAPA charges alleging a larger conspiracy in the riots that took place in February 2020.
The court is hearing the bail applications of both Sharjeel and Khalid together as they are accused in the same charge sheet of the same case. The hearing is underway and will be resumed on Tuesday. Advocate Trideep Pais said that Sharjeel Imam criticised a secular movement against CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) while Khalid does not agree with it.
“There was absolutely no consensus between people who were opposed to CAA. They are divergent people with different school of thoughts. Imam criticised a secular movement against CAA and I do not agree with it. I am being lumped with a person who calls for a deeply communal protest against CAA. There is no ideological meeting of minds,” Pais submitted for Khalid.
He argued that the main aim of citizens protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act was to retain the unity and integrity of India and submitted that the protestors wish to be a part of the country and were opposing allegedly discriminatory criteria of granting/ denying citizenship to a certain class of person.
Pais submitted that the lower court has misinterpreted witness statements to draw a connection between Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, however, the two have never ever communicated with each other.