Delhi Court on Tuesday has extended the Judicial custody of the sedition charged Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students. They are accused of the Delhi riots conspiracy and have been ordered to remain in judicial custody till March 1, 2021.
Police Claims That The Clash Was Pre-Planned
As per the reports, the eighteen accused of the riots were produced in front of the Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ), Amitabh Rawat from the Karkardooma Court. The session was conducted via video conferencing at the end of the custodial fourteen-day period.
The Jawaharlal Nehru University accused students includes Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Tahir Hussain, Safoora Zargar, Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, Khalid Saifi, Meeran Haider, Shafa-ur-Rehman, Ishrat Jahan, Saleem Malik, Shabad Ahmed, Tasleem Ahmed, Athar Khan, Saleem Khan, and Faizan Khan.
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The police claim that the alleged conspiracy to incite riots across Delhi was “pre-planned and premeditated”. The riots reportedly killed 53 people and around 748 people were injured in the North East Delhi area in February last year.
In September 2020, the Delhi Police filed a 1200 long page chargesheet against the accused members of the alleged conspiracy. The charge sheet was filed under the Unlawful Assembly (Prevention) Act, Arms Act, Indian Penal Code, and Prevention to Damage To Public Property Act.
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The charge sheet further includes screenshots of the Whatsapp messages shared amongst the students along with the Facebook Posts which links them to the alleged riot conspiracy.
Reports suggest that in the last hearing when the accused person were physically present in front of the court, the security personnel were requested to leave the courtroom.
Umar Khalid Claims Against Media Trial
Earlier this year, JNU student leader, Umar Khalid alleged in front of the Delhi court that he was a victim of the “media trial”. He alleged that the media trial against him was preventing him from receiving a free and fair trial under the justice of the law.
The submissions were made to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Dinesh Kumar via video conferencing. The hearing at that time was regarding the riots in the Khajuri Khas area in February 2020.
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He further claimed that a section of the media reportedly got a supplementary charge sheet and filed it in the case long before he or his lawyer could get it from the court. Khalid said that only a selected set of statements were leaked which continue to affect his right for a free and fair trial. However, he did not sign any statements while he was in police judicial custody.
As per the reports, a supplementary charge sheet was filed against Khalid on December 26, 2020, in the same case. He was arrested in October 2020 after being arrested in September under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in other cases.
