Charges based solely on statements, No proof : Umar Khalid's counsel

New Delhi: The counsel for former JNU student Umar Khalid told a court here on Friday that the case against his client in the alleged larger conspiracy behind the 2020 Delhi riots was solely based on statements and lacked any physical evidence.

The submissions were made before Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai during arguments opposing the framing of charges against Khalid.

Senior advocate Trideep Pais, appearing for Khalid, argued, “If you have statements only, where will the case go? It will remain in the manner in which it has been in the last five years. Will we take Alpha, Beta, and Gamma (names of three protected witnesses) and examine them?”

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Pais said there was no recovery or any physical evidence against his client.

“There are 751 FIRs (in the 2020 northeast Delhi riots). I am not an accused in any, except one (the larger conspiracy case),” said the senior advocate.

Citing the statement of a witness, he said that Khalid was alleged to have attended a meeting on December 8, 2019 in Jangpura, where a purported conspiracy regarding the 2020 Delhi riots was discussed.

“The meeting happened in Jangpura. Only two people are named as accused, and others who attended the meeting are not named? If you say that this meeting was the main conspiracy meeting, why did it take you so long to take statements?”

“I am not saying that you cannot register an FIR if you have evidence. But you have named me and called it a conspiracy. You have recorded statements almost six months after the FIR and 11 months after the December meeting,” Khalid’s counsel said.

He said that Khalid had sent only three messages in the Delhi Protest Support Group (DPSG) WhatsApp group, which was allegedly the starting point of the conspiracy.

The arguments will continue on October 28 and 29.

Last month, Khalid’s lawyer said his client spent five years in custody in what he called a “joke of an FIR”, which did not have the “sanctity of law”.

Khalid was arrested in the case on September 13, 2020.

Twenty people, including activists Sharjeel Imam, Khalid Saifi and former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Tahir Hussain, have been booked for their alleged involvement in the larger conspiracy to incite the riots.

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