The Delhi high court on Friday said that one of the speeches made by student activist Umar Khalid in Maharashtra’s Amravati during the anti-CAA/NRC protests in February 2020 was “obnoxious and offensive”.
The speech forms a part of the charge sheet against Khalid and several others in connection with a larger conspiracy case in the 2020 North-east Delhi riots.
A division bench comprising of justices Siddharth Mridul and Rajnish Bhatnagar, while seeking the police response on Khalid’s bail plea, said that it is not the first time that such statements have been made.
“This is offensive, obnoxious. Don’t you think? These expressions being used, don’t you think they incite people? You say things like aapke purvaj angrezon ki dalali kar rahe the, you don’t think it is offensive? It is offensive, per se. This is not the first time that you have said so in this speech. You said this at least five times. It is almost as if we distinctly get the impression that it was only one particular community that fought for India’s independence,” the bench said.
Questioning whether such speeches foment religious differences between groups and whether Mahatma Gandhi would have used this language, the court asked, “Don’t you think it foments religious ferment between groups? Did Gandhi ji ever employ this language? Did Shaheed Bhagat Singh ever employ such language, even against the English? Did he? Is this what Gandhiji taught us that we can use intemperate language about people and their purvaj? We have no qualms about permitting free speech, but what are you saying?”
The remarks were made when counsels appearing for Umar Khalid read out the contents of the Amravati speech as they challenged the denial of bail by a trial court.
A trial court had denied him bail on March 24, saying that the accusations against Khalid are “prima facie true.”
Meanwhile, the high court listed it for further hearing on April 27.
