NEW DELHI: Former JNU student Omar Khalid’s WhatsApp chat revealed that he was in the habit of creating social media narratives to influence bail hearings, the Delhi Police on Wednesday told a court.
Khalid is an accused in the alleged larger conspiracy behind the 2020 northeast Delhi communal riots. He has been booked under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
ASJ Sameer Bajpai was hearing the second bail plea of Kahlid before the special court. Concluding his arguments, Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Amit Prasad said, “The applicant’s WhatsApp chats also revealed that he is in the habit of creating media and social media narratives at the time of listing of bail applications of persons booked in cases clearly to influence bail hearings.”
“Similar exercise is being adopted while applicant’s bail (hearings) are being listed to influence his bail hearings, samples of posts on X earlier Twitter with hashtag about the applicant are annexed,” Prasad said, adding, the plea deserved to be dismissed in the interest of justice. He cited the social media posts with the hashtag ‘Free Omar Khalid’ of several people, including Amnesty India, its former director Aakar Patel, activist Teesta Setalvad, Swati Chaturvedi (X handle @bainjal), Kaushik Raj (X handle @kaushikrj6).
Detailing the posts, the SPP said these included a comparison of Ram Rahim’s parole being granted with the Supreme Court allegedly deferring Khalid’s bail 14 times, a post about the denial of Khalid’s bail being an “acute subversion of his rights”, his bail hearing being a “litmus test for the judiciary” and the denial of his bail being a “big blow to the right of peaceful protest”.
“While they (Khalid and others) claim that they were subjected to media trial, please see how he plays around with media, how his father is giving media interviews and people associated with him are also doing the same,” Prasad said.