'20 riots: Police oppose bail to Khalid, Sharjeel

‘Igniting communal tension’

- Utkarsh Anand

The Delhi Police on Thursday strongly opposed the release of student activists Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and three others booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in the 2020 Northeast Delhiriots conspiracy case, arguing before the Supreme Court that the alleged offences involved a deliberate attempt to destabilise the State and therefore warranted “jail and not bail”.

In a 177-page affidavit filed a day before the matter is scheduled to come up for hearing, the police contended that the violence that unfolded in February 2020 ‘was nota spontaneous escalation of protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), but part ofa coordinated “regime change operation” executed under the guise of civil dissent.

The plan, according to the prosecution, aimed to ignite communal tensions during the visit of then US President Donald Trump, so as to “internationalise” the unrest and project the Indian gov-ernmentas discriminatory.

The police submission comes two days after a bench of justices Aravind Kumar and NV Anjaria asked the enforcement agency to consider whether the accused, several of whom have spent nearly five years in judicial custody as undertrials, could be released on bail.