2020 riots: No material to accuse me of committing terrorist act, says Khalid Saifi

Saifi's counsel said that merely being present at a protest site cannot be a ground for invocation of the provisions of the Stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

New Delhi: Arrested in a February 2020 riots case, United Against Hate founder Khalid Saifi on Tuesday requested the Delhi High Court to grant him bail, claiming there was no material to show he committed a terrorist act or conspired to do so.

Saifi's counsel also said that merely being present at a protest site cannot be a ground for invocation of the provisions of the Stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

"There is absolutely nothing which will show that a terrorist act was committed by me or that I (Saifi) conspired to do a terrorist act.... I have already suffered five years of incarceration and I urge this court to grant me bail," senior advocate Rebecca John, on behalf of Saifi, submitted before a bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur.

The court listed the matter on April 16 for hearing submissions on behalf of other accused seeking a similar relief.

During the hearing, the senior counsel said three cases were lodged against him, including the present one, and that he was granted bail in one case while discharged in another matter.

"They (prosecution) say I was present at Jantar Mantar for the protest. Mere presence for protest at a public place cannot be a ground to invoke UAPA and to say that there was a conspiracy for rioting. Jantar Mantar is a public place. I don't deny that I did not attend the protest. I attended the protest because I believed that the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was wrong," John contended.

The counsel also accused the prosecution of following a pick and choose policy and said the police have not arrested those who were the administrators of the WhatsApp groups, which the agency found objectionable.

It was earlier argued on behalf of Saifi that a constitutional court could grant him bail on account of delay in trial even when offences under anti-terror law UAPA were involved.

He also sought parity with other co-accused who were out on bail in the case, and said speedy trial was a constitutionally protected right which ought to be considered in his case which is at the stage of arguments on charge.

Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Saifi and several others have been booked under the UAPA and provisions of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly being the "masterminds" of the February 2020 riots, which had left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.

The violence had erupted during the protests against the CAA and NRC (National Register of Citizens). Most bail pleas in the case, including the ones by Sharjeel Imam, Gulfisha Fatima and Khalid Saifi, were filed in 2022, and heard by different benches from time to time.