Activist Umar Khalid on Thursday strongly opposed the framing of charges against him in the 2020 Delhi riots “larger conspiracy” case, telling a Delhi court that he has already spent five years in custody in what he described as a “joke of an FIR.”
Appearing before Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai, Khalid’s lawyer, senior advocate Trideep Pais, argued that the case was built on fabricated evidence. “I have spent five years in custody in this joke of an FIR. This FIR doesn’t have the sanctity of law,” Pais said, pointing out that the FIR is being investigated by the Delhi Police’s Special Cell.
He added that while the prosecution claims 51 people were killed during the violence, those deaths are already being probed separately. “The deaths of those people are being investigated by 751 different FIRs,” Pais told the court.
The defence alleged that investigators had first chosen their targets and then built a case against them. “You first decide ‘isko pakadna hai’ (this person has to be caught)… then reverse engineering takes place,” Pais argued. He said there was “no linkage with the actual offences” and that the chargesheet was filled with “falsehoods” against Khalid.
Referring to earlier trial court orders in riot-related cases where judges had criticized the police investigation while acquitting accused persons, Pais said: “Please see the falsehood of the chargesheet, the manner in which it peddles lies. This is a person who was not there.”
The court has scheduled the matter for further hearing on September 17.
Umar Khalid was arrested on September 13, 2020, in the case, which accuses him and 19 others, including activists Sharjeel Imam and Khalid Saifi, and former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain, of being part of a larger conspiracy to incite the northeast Delhi riots.
