Thread by @barandbench

Delhi High Court will continue to hear today the arguments in the appeal of former JNU student Umar Khalid challenging the lower court's order denying him bail in the Delhi Riots larger conspiracy case.
#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

Khalid has been charged with criminal conspiracy and other provisions of the IPC along with the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). He has been in jail since October 2020.
#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

The appeal will be heard by a bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Rajnish Bhatnagar.
Matter is likely to be take up at 2:30pm.
Read the development in the previous hearing here:
barandbench.com/news/litigatio…

Bench has assembled.
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Hearing starts.

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Advocate Sanya Kumar appears for Khalid and adresses the court.

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Kumar takes the court through the allegations against him that he met other alleged co-conspirators in Delhi's Seelampur area.

#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

Kumar: Apart from one protected witness there is no one who says anything.
Bench: Who is that witness?
Kumar: There is one person named 'Sierra'.

#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

Kumar reads the statement.

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Kumar: This is gentleman who is stated to go to the alleged place of meeting to serve tea.

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Kumar: Please note that this witness does not call the location secret. There is no Sec 164 statement either. Please note that the CDR shows that Natasha Narwal was not at this location on that day.

Kumar: Sierra also did not say that Umar Khalid said, 'policewalon ka khoon bahan padega'. But the chargesheet makes this allegation without any proof.

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Kumar now refers to the statement of one witness names Smith.
Kumar: This witness was just ten days before Khalid's arrest.

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Kumar: Portions of this statement are identical to the statement given by Sierra.

#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

Kumar: Please note that the witness does not say that the location was secret or the meetings happening here were secret.

#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

J Bhatnagar: So they are corraborating each other?
Kumar: It is not as if they have their own version or language. The punctuation, the words and the manner in which they describe the incident are exactly identical.

J Bhatnagar: All this will be tested at trial.
Kumar: Your lordships just take a note of it and consider it while deciding my bail.

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Kumar now refers to Section 164 statement of the same witness.

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Kumar: This was just three days before my arrest.

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Kumar: Please note that Smith is the only person who says I was involved in accumulating weapons. But there is no recovery of any weapons from me. He does not even call the 23rd Jan speech provocative.

#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

Kumar now reads the Section 161 statement of another witness named Echo.

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Kumar: Other than a bald statement there is neither any basis nor specificity to any of these allegations. Please also note that he says Gulfisha told him that Khalid has asked women to get acid or other things.

#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

Kumar now refers to Echo's Section 164 statement.

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Kumar: There is a lot of hearsay. He says "public ko bhadkaya". But he doesn't mention, what were the words used, what was said. There is not a single witness who says they were induced particulalry at Umar Khalid's behest.

Kumar now refers to Sec 161 statement of another protected witness named Delta.

Kumar: Please note that there is not even an allegation that Khalid said 'Policewalon ka khoon bahaye". The chargesheet said this.
#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

Kumar now refers to the witness' 164 statement.
It is very interesting: Kumar.
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Please note that in his 161 he did not hear anything that Khalid had said to Gulfish Fatima. He does not refer tot he Seelampur meeting either.
#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

Kumar: This is the person who has been in contact with police. There is not mention of this in 161 statement.
#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

Kumar: This is the witness who tells the magistrate that from Jan 5 he was constantly telling the local SHO what was happening, who was conducting the protests yet no action was taken. This was not in 161 statement.
#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

Kumar: He does not say Umar gave a provocative speech. He does not even go into the content of the speech.
#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

Kumar: Delta is a witness who himself says that he has apprised SHO of everything including that Gulfisha asked local women to get knives and other things. Yet even he does not say that Khalid's speech was provocative.
#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

Kumar now refers to the statement of another protected witness named Gamma.
Kumar: He does not talk about Khalid in 161 statement. But within six days, in 164 statement he says that Khalid gave a provocative speech.
#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

Kumar: Please also note that the prosecution which has termed the meeting a 'secret meeting' got the photographs of the said meeting from the Facebook profile of one of the accused.
#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

Sr Advocate Trideep Pais now takes over from Kumar.
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Pais: I will start with Facebook post. It has been produced by the prosecution. It belies their own claims.
#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

Pais (while referring to the picture): Would anyone having secret meetings take a picture like this?
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J Mridul: Whose Facebook profile have these pictures been taken from?
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Pais: One Syed Imran.
#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

Pais: If this is supposed to be a conspiracy why would a picture of me will be available on Facebook in August. I have been accused of being a silent whisper that I have learnt from my experience to stay under the radar.

Pais: They (Police) says that on August 28 it was learnt that a secret meeting was held. Please see that the statement of Delta was on 13 April. Echo was on April 16. The list is endless. the manner in which chargesheet is presented shows that it is a fabrication.

Pais now refers to the order of the lower court which denied bail to Khalid.
#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

Pais: I am afraid that the premise itself of the impugned order is wrong.
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Pais: Does the court jump to conclusion that it was a conspitorial meeting because the prosecution said so and ignores the statements of the witnesses which did not say it was a secret meeting. Nothing has been discussed.

Pais: The order just reproduces the allegations in the chargesheet.
#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

Pais: The order only reproduced the statements of the witness. It did not even discuss how it constitutes an offence under Section 15 of UAPA.
#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

Pais now refers to 14th instance alleged against Khalid.
Pais: The date of the instance is Feb 10, 2020 and the witnesses are Illium and Crypton.
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Pais: There is a political party called Welfare Party of India. They organised a protest at Jantar Mantar and it is alleged that Bangladeshi women were taken to the site. That's it. Nothing else. i would be wasting your lordships time if I read this statement.

J Mridul: The question is can we attach any weightage to material on record at this state.
Pais: Yes my lord.
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Pais: I am not asking you to discard the statements. Weightage, veracity and reliability of a statement is your lordship's domain at the stage of granting bail.

J Mridul: We are not requried to look at epithets like secret meeting. We are to look at whether this meeting took place or not. Just because you put the picture of the meeting on facebook does not mean there was no meeting.
#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

J Mridul: Some things hide in plain sight. There is no law that says there can't be a conspiratorial meeting in a park.
#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

J Mridul: We have to look at those statements for what they are today. They have to establish their facts at the trial.
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J Mridul: The question is does all the statements and evidence taken together constitute commission of an offence prima facie. That's all that we have to decide.
#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

Pais: The chargesheet goes way beyond the statements.
J Mridul: The point is whatever statements are made, how much scrutiny can they be subject to at this stage?
#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

Pais: I am not asking you to disregard the statement or pronounce at their veracity. But please have a whole picture...
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J Mridul: We are only concerned with the picture. We can't check why Leonardo painted The Last Supper.
#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

J Mridul: Another issue is you are not taking into consideration that you have been chargesheeted for conspiracy as well. So to say that other materials in chargesheet does not concern you is not correct.
#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

Pais: We have not only read what is against, we have also read what is supposedly on my behest.
J Mridul: It may not be at your behest. The law is you are liable to what other co-accused have done as well.
#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

J Mridul: We have to take the material at face value and see if they constitute commission of an offence.
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Pais now refers to allegations against Khalid with relation to events of February 17.
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Pais says the allegations are in reference to the speech at Amravati.
J Mridul: Just because the speech is in bad taste does not mean it is a terrorist act. Offensive and distasteful it was.

J Mridul: It may tantamount to defamation but it does not tantamount to a terrorist act.
#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

J Mridul: Of course you can say this was freedom of speech but don't think that speech in itself is a terrorist act.
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Pais: Okay, I will not refer to that speech.
Pais now refers to statement of another witness named James.

Pais now refers to another witness named Bond.
Court asks Delhi Police's counsel: Mr Prasad were these names picked out of a hat.
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J Mridul: Is there a witness called Roger as well?
Pais: No sir, I don't think so.
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Pais' instructing counsel reads Sec 161 statement of James.
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Pais: The statement is not wrt to me but to three other persons. One of them has not been charged. He has given three statements and in each case he improves his statement.
#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

Pais: the last instance against me what chargesheet calls a 'flurry of calls'. There is no witness statement. Please have this in mind.
#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

Pais now reads the supplementary chargesheet wrt the allegations.
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The allegations are in respect of incidents on February 24.
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Pais: Violence had broken out in Delhi by that time.
#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

Pais: They cite these calls and say that it indicates that there is a conspiracy.
#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

Pais: To come to such a conclusion that mere exchange of phone calls constitute a conspiracy have they said that they spoke for so much time. Please have Navjot Sandhu judgment. It deal exactly with this.
#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

Pais: This judgment is under POTA. They (Police) are not telling you how much they spoke on previous days. This is just an inference. Also in this flurry there are only two calls of me in three hours.
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Pais refers to the judgment.
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J Mridul: This is truly a maze.
Pais: Yes my lord. This was meant to be.
Pais now refers to the judgment.
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J Mridul: What proposition of law does it law down? It's just a elaboration of facts in that case. It does not lay down a law.
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Pais: Okay, I will leave it at that but this was the case that came closes to me.
J Mridul: All these judgments are at end of the trial.

Pais: The reason why they term these calls a conspiracy is...
J Mridul: How longer will you take?
Pais: I will finish the fact today and take 40 minutes tomorrow to finish the case law.

J Mridul: The difficulty is that this matter has taken more time than we envisaged. You now only want to take us through judgment. The thing is we will not be able to complete it before vacation. We will have to have it after reopening.

J Mridul: It is not possible for us to do this every day in the post lunch session. We have been hearing it almost on a daily basis for days.

Pais: My learned friend's burden will be less.
J Mridul: Maybe. But our burden has increased.
#DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #DelhiRiots #UAPA

J Mridul: We know you are in custody for a long time but so are others. people have been in preventive detention and their habeas corpus petitions are lying.
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Order:
List for concluding arguments of Mr Trideep Pais on July 4.
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Hearing over.
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