Umar Khalid's bail plea to be heard daily by Delhi HC from May 23

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday decided to hear the bail plea of Umar Khalid daily from Monday onward to complete the hearing before the summer vacations begin.

A Division Bench of the Delhi High Court headed by Justice Siddharth Mridul, which has been hearing the bail application filed by Umar Khalid in the Delhi Riots case, will continue hearing the plea as a special bench from May 23.

Umar Khalid has challenged the trial court order of March 24 denying him bail in the larger conspiracy of North East Delhi riots case.

The matter was directed to be listed before the Bench which also comprises Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar after it was noted yesterday that this Bench had heard the matter substantially.

During the hearing on Friday, the bench objected to some portion of the speech delivered at Amaravati mentioning Prime Minister Modi. Justice Bhatnagar asked can such words be used for Prime Minister?

Senior Advocate responded by saying that those words were used as a metaphor to show that the reality and practical issues of the country were being hidden in reality. However Justice Bhatnagar said, " Some other words could have been used for the Prime Minister."

The bench also asked what Umar Khalid mean when he used the words 'Inquilab' and 'Krantikari' in the Amaravati Speech. Pais apprised the court about the dictionary meaning of these words.

Senior Advocate Pais responded to court by referring to a historian that the word Inquilab means revolution whereas the word Inquilab zindabad means long live the revolution.

At the outset of the hearing, Pais produced a transcription of the speech delivered at Amravati and some other documents to explain the meaning of the words. He also referred to the portion of the charge sheet which pointed out the allegations of the prosecution that Khalid was involved in terror activities.

During the earlier hearing, Justice Mridul had said that the speech Umar Khalid delivered at Amravati was 'obnoxious' and that the criticism of the government is allowed, but a 'Lakshman Rekha' should not be crossed.

Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Amit Prasad informed the court that he would require four to five hours to complete his arguments.