NEW DELHI: The Police on Tuesday opposed the bail plea of former JNU student leader Umar Khalid, saying that the ‘ultimate objective’ of the riots conspiracy was to bring the Indian government to its knees and destabilise the foundation of democracy.
Umar and several others have been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, a stringent anti-terror law, and are accused of being the “masterminds” of the riots which had left 53 people dead in 2020. Arguments on their bail pleas have been going on for more than five months.
Opposing his bail plea before Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat, Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Amit Prasad contested the claims of former JNU student leader Khalid that the investigating agency was communal and the charge sheet in the riots conspiracy case was a ‘figment of imagination’.
Representing the police, the SPP said, ‘The ultimate objective was to overthrow the government and undermine the authority of the parliament, which enacted CAA and destabilise the foundation of the democracy. ‘This is evident from the chats which clearly state that government has to be brought to its knees.’ Prasad further said that Khalid, through his lawyer, focused on ‘irrelevant materials’ while arguing his bail application in a bid to divert the court’s attention.
Prasad further relied on the charge sheet to claim that the 2020 riots were not a spontaneous outburst of violence. ‘From the charge sheet, we have demonstrated that 23 protest sites were created and those sites were not organic in nature. They were meticulously planned with the location which was in close proximity to the masjids (Mosques),’ he said.
In the previous hearing, Umar, through senior advocate Trideep Paid, had said that advocacy against a law like the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is not a crime and that the police department had pressurised the witnesses to give statements against the accused.