“Completely disconnected” from Umar Khalid: Sharjeel Imam to Delhi High Court

Activist Sharjeel Imam, accused in a February 2020 riots case, on Thursday, 8 May, argued in the Delhi High Court that he was "completely disconnected" from the place, time and co-accused posited in the case, including .

Imam's counsel urged a bench of justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur to show "compassion" in deciding his bail plea.

His speeches and WhatsApp chats never called for any unrest, the counsel added.

"This boy has spent more than five years in continuous custody. He is the (family's) breadwinner. He has an old ailing mother and no father," said Imam's counsel.

The counsel reiterated that he was not even in the capital after 15 January 2020 and was arrested by the police from his hometown in Bihar on 28 January in a separate case. He contended that Imam, as a result, could not have participated in any of the 'conspiratorial' meetings with others.

While the prosecution's conspiracy case was based on messages exchanged among the accused persons, Imam's counsel denied he had chatted with them, saying he was not in the purported 'main WhatsApp group' where chakka jams (traffic disruptions) were discussed.

The WhatsApp group Imam was a part of had no messages that even "remotely incite violence", the lawyer said.

"There is not a single message shown to show one community was pitted against another... One evidence of violence versus 40 evidences of non-violence demolishes the case of the prosecution," the counsel added.

The lawyer further argued that though a witness had alleged that he was "related to Umar Khalid and some other accused", Imam had no such connection.

Imam's lawyer said his client was already facing prosecution in separate cases alleging sedition and hate speech, in which he was granted bail.

There were judicial pronouncements that found there was no consequent violence following his speeches, he added.

With respect to the police's case that he raised the Shaheen Bagh protest site, the lawyer argued Imam distanced himself from the site on 2 January 2020, apprehending the involvement of miscreants, and that the present case ought not to be "mixed" with the violence that broke out earlier at Jamia Milia Islamia in December 2019.

Umar Khalid, Imam and several others have been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and provisions of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly being the "masterminds" of the February 2020 riots, which had left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.

The violence erupted during the protests against the CAA and NRC.

Imam was arrested in the case on 25 August 2020.

The matter will not, however, be heard on 21 May despite earlier scheduling.