Role of Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and others in 2020 Delhi riots case
Police alleged that riots were outcome of a pre-planned conspiracy orchestrated by Khalid along with his associates
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed bail pleas of activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case but ordered the release of five other accused -- Gulfisha Fatima, Meera Haider, Shifa Ur Rehman, Md Saleem Khan and Shadab Ahmed, citing "hierarchy of participation".
The Delhi Police alleged that the riots were the outcome of a pre-planned conspiracy orchestrated by Khalid along with his associates.
According to the police, Khalid delivered provocative speeches calling upon people to come out on the streets and block roads during the visit of US President Donald Trump, on 24th and 25th February 2020 with a view to internationalise a narrative that minorities in India were being ill-treated and tortured.
Imam was involved in deliberate mobilisation, radicalisation and preparation of ground conditions through organised chakka jams, blockage of arterial roads, and disruption of essential services and he created and administered WhatsApp group 'Muslim Students of JNU' which functioned as a coordinating mechanism for mobilisation, identification of protest sites, the police alleged.
Imam allegedly attended and participated in conspiratorial meetings at Jangpura and within the JNU ecosystem, where the strategy of chakka jam and escalation of protests was discussed and his role was not geographically confined to Delhi as he acted as a mobiliser and ideologue and travelled to Aligarh and other locations.
Imam played a decisive role in the creation and sustenance of the Shaheen Bagh protest site, which evolved into a prolonged 24x7 blockade of a major arterial road and his role was foundational and preparatory, and that liability for conspiracy does not require physical presence at the scene of violence once the plan has been set in motion, the police alleged.
Khalid allegedly held a "secret meeting" in Seelampur in January 2020 with Gulfisha Fatima, Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, and others, where he purportedly instructed them to induce local women of Seelampur to stockpile knives, bottles, acid, stones, chilli powder, and other dangerous articles to engineer a riot.
Fatima was accused of acting as a key coordinator who helped turn peaceful sit-ins into violent demonstrations while Haider, a member of the Jamia Coordination Committee, was alleged to have overseen multiple all-day protest sites, collected funds, and encouraged protesters to attack police and non-Muslims.
Shifa Ur Rehman, the president of the Alumni Association of Jamia Millia Islamia and a member of the Jamia Coordination Committee, allegedly functioned as a key financier and logistic facilitator of the protest sites.
Mohd. Saleem Khan played a pivotal local role in executing the conspiracy at Chand Bagh and adjoining areas while Shadab Ahmad was an active member of the Delhi Protest Support Group network and allegedly worked in concert with other core conspirators to escalate protests into disruptive chakka jam and thereafter into violent riots, particularly at Chand Bagh, it was alleged.
