Delhi Riots: Delhi High Court issues notice in appeal filed by Khalid Saifi

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued notice in the appeal filed by United Against Hate founder Khalid Saifi against an order of a Special Court rejecting his bail plea in an Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) case related to the Delhi Riots of 2020..A Division Bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Rajnish Bhatnagar said that the matter would be heard after the summer vacation..Senior Advocate Rebecca John, appearing for Saifi, requested the Court to hear his appeal separately. She also requested the Court to consider the content on pen drives containing evidence.The Bench pointed out that along with the FIR and the chargesheet that it had called for, all evidence will be brought in.Accordingly, it directed that the matter be listed for hearing on July 11..Saifi was denied bail by a Special Court on April 8. While doing so, the Court had held that the allegations against Saifi were prima facie true. He was arrested by the Delhi Police in February 2020, soon after the Delhi Riots that led to death of more than 50 people. Saifi was charged with several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as well as the UAPA, after the police alleged that he was involved in planning the Delhi Riots along with other co-conspirators like Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam. The police further alleged that Saifi used the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the national capital as a front. .Saifi's appeal is the third major plea related to the Delhi Riots that the Division Bench headed by Justice Mridul is now seized of. It is already dealing with appeals by Sharjeel Imam challenging the denial of his bail as well as the framing of Sedition and UAPA charges against him. The Bench is also seized of Umar Khalid's appeal against the lower court's order denying him bail in the Delhi Riots larger conspiracy case. The High Court had in the last week of April ordered that it would hear the bail appeals filed by Imam and Khalid together.