Feels like solitary confinement, not allowed to meet anyone: Umar Khalid tells court

New Delhi, Oct 22: Former Jawaharlal Nehru student Umar Khalid has told a court that he is not being allowed to step out of his cell or meet anyone. It feels like solitary confinement, he also said.

Security does not mean that I should be punished like this, Khalid also said. He also said that he has not been keeping well for the past days and due to the orders to keep him confined to the cell all the time, he is feeling discomfort. The court summoned the jail superintendent and posted the matter for further hearing on Friday.

The NIA which recently filed a chargesheet running into 10,000 pages is examining the role of several persons who had given speeches at the Elgar Parishad on December 21 2007. Khalid had taken part in the event and the Pune police had said that the speeches made were partly responsible for instigating the violence that took place the following day.

Khalid is currently under arrest for his alleged role in the Delhi riots case. The NIA in its chargesheet pertaining to Hany Babu had cited a witness. It says that Hany Babu inculcated Maoist sympathies in the students in Delhi.

Quoting a witness, the NIA said that Babu had in particular inculcated Maoist sympathies in Dalit students coming from oppressed backgrounds. Further, the witness also says that Umar Khalid was an urban party member.

The Delhi police on the other hand said that the conspirators used a WhatsApp group to incite the violence and a total of 25 groups were specially created for 25 protest sites. While the impression was given that the protests were about the amended citizenship law, in realty these conspirators were using the groups to guide people on the ground, the police further added.

Each of these chat groups had its own role in the conspiracy. While some groups have been deleted, others have been recovered and submitted as evidence.

Tahir Hussain, Md Parvez Ahmed, Md Iliyas, Saifi Khalid, Ishrat Jahan, Miran Haider, Safoora Zargar, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Shadab Ahmed, Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, Tasleem Ahmed, Saleem Malik, Md Saleem Khan, and Athar Khan have been named in the chargesheet.

The police also said that the conspirators used code words within the groups to convey secret messages. They also gave hate speeches at Jafrabad Metro Station and were continuously present there till the last.

On Khalid, the police have quoted his alleged words: "Khoon bahana padega aise nahi chalega chakka jaam hi aakhri rasta hai hame sarkar ko ghutno ke bal laana hi hoga sanghiyon ki sarkar aise nahi maanegi. (Blood must spill and road blockade is the last resort. We have to bring the government to its knees. This right wing government will not understand)