Chandigarh Mayor resigns ahead of SC hearing
The step followed the resignations of three Aam Aadmi Party councillors – Punam Devi, Neha Musawat, and Gurcharan Kala – in Chandigarh who joined the BJP last night.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday posted for January 31 the hearing on the bail plea by former JNU student Umar Khalid, accused of being a part of the conspiracy behind the North-East Delhi riots in February 2020 and charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967.
A bench of Justice Bela M. Trivedi and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan posted the matter for hearing on January 31 as Justice Trivedi had to be in a special bench with a different combination to hear another matter at 02.00 pm.
Khalid was arrested by Delhi Police in September 2020 for being allegedly involved in a larger conspiracy behind February 2020 North East Delhi riots.
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Khalid had approached the top court challenging an October 2022 Delhi High Court verdict that had denied bail to him. Earlier his bail plea was dismissed by the trial court in March 2022.
Khalid has sought bail on the grounds that he neither had any “criminal role” in the February 2020 violence in the North-East area of Delhi nor any “conspiratorial connect” with any other accused in the case.
The Delhi police had opposed Khalid’s bail plea before the High Court.
He was charged with criminal conspiracy, rioting, unlawful assembly as well as several provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Besides Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, activist Khalid Saifi, JNU students Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, Jamia Coordination Committee members Safoora Zargar, former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain and several others were booked under the stringent law in the case.
The violence had erupted during the protests against CAA and NRC and had left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.
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