Delhi Riots UAPA Case: Witnesses Cooked Up Statements, Umar Khalid Tells Court

New Delhi: Former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Umar Khalid told the Delhi court through his lawyer that in the UAPA case on northeast Delhi riots made cooked up statements and the case can’t be made on half-truths.

Senior advocate Trideep Pais was arguing for Umar’s bail before Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat. The court will again hear the arguments on November 16.

According to Pais, Umar only sent four messages to the WhatsApp group, Delhi Protests Support Group (DPSG) — now under probe. They claimed that the group was used to plan the riots.

“Only four messages have been sent by me to this group since it started. It’s not like the volume of messages would make the crime any less but the quality of messages show there is absolutely no role for me,” Pais told the court.

According to a report in The Indian Express, the advocate showed the court a message sent by Umar and said, “I am simply giving people the location of the protest site.”

Pais said that a witness had “cherry picked the names” in his statement.

“Where in his statement, or chargesheet, where is the distinction in the role of persons. You pick one person and leave others. I am not saying others should be arrested…Most people assigned roles are not arrested and I am arrested…Chor ki dhadi me tinka is clearly visible here,” Pais submitted in the court.

“He is not able to point out a single activity which I undertook by virtue of which it could be called a conspiracy or terrorist act,” said Pais.

“Witness is clearly a cooked up witness. You can’t have half truth to make a case against me…Most vicious language is used because once you cook up a statement, you can say anything,” Pais argued on behalf of Khalid.

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