SC defers Balwant Singh Rajoana – 1995 killer of Punjab CM Beant Singh – plea for release
Senior advocate Rohatgi, appearing for Rajoana, urged the bench to grant temporary release to Rajoana.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday posted for January 10, 2024 the hearing on the bail plea of former Jawaharlal Nehru University student Umar Khalid accused of being involved in unlawful activities and the 2020 north-east Delhi riots.
A bench of Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma adjourned the hearing as both the senior advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for Khalid and Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju appearing for the investigating agency were not available.
The bench also listed the other petitions challenging the provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) on January 10.
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Sibal had earlier told the court that certain provisions of the UAPA, including provisions concerning terrorism, raising funds for terrorist act and conspiracy did not apply in the case of Umar Khalid.
Khalid had approached the top court challenging an October 2022 Delhi High Court verdict that had denied bail to him.
Khalid was arrested by Delhi Police in September 2020, and had sought bail on grounds that he neither had any “criminal role” in the violence in the city’s North-East area nor any “conspiratorial connect” with any other accused in the case. The Delhi police had opposed Khalid’s bail plea before the High Court.
Khalid had approached the High Court challenging the dismissal of his bail application by the trial court in March 2022.
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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