Umar Khalid completes 4 years in jail, still awaits for trial in UAPA case

Former JNU student and activist Umar Khalid has completed four years in jail after being arrested in connection with the 2020 northeast Delhi communal riots. Communal clashes had broken out in northeast Delhi on February 24, 2020, after violence between supporters of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and those against the legislation spiralled out of control, leaving at least 53 people dead and around 200 injured. Khalid was in December 2022 acquitted in a case related to alleged rioting, vandalism and arson at a parking lot in February 2020 but remains incarcerated in the second case under the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and provisions of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly being a mastermind of the riots. The 36-year-old researcher and scholar was arrested on September 13, 2020. While charge-sheets were filed in 2020 and 2022, the framing of charges has been delayed in this case and his attempts to seek bail have been turned down by courts. He has al