Supreme Court rejects 100 per cent cross verification of EVM votes with VVPAT slips
The top court also rejected the prayers of petitioners to return to ballot paper voting system, calling it foible and unsound.
Former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Umar Khalid, an accused in the 2020 North East Delhi riots, on Wednesday withdrew his bail plea before the Supreme Court stating that he would approach the trial court.
A bench of Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice Pankaj Mithal allowed Khalid to withdraw the bail plea as senior advocate. Kapil Sibal, appearing for Khalid, told the bench that the petition is being withdrawn in view of “change in circumstances” and to seek bail afresh before the trial court.
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“Bail matter, we wish to withdraw. There has been a change in circumstances, we will try our luck in the trial court,” Sibal told the bench while seeking to withdraw the bail petition.
Umar Khalid is in incarceration since September 2020 and has been accused of allegedly being a part of a larger conspiracy behind February 2020 North East Delhi riots. He has been charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act
Khalid had approached the top court challenging an October 2022 Delhi High Court verdict that had denied him the bail. Earlier, the trial court had dismissed his bail plea in March 2022.
Khalid has sought bail on the grounds that he neither had any “criminal role” in the February 2020 violence in the North-East area of Delhi nor any “conspiratorial connect” with any other accused in the case.
The Delhi police had opposed Khalid’s bail plea before the High Court.
He was charged with criminal conspiracy, rioting, unlawful assembly as well as several provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Besides Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, activist Khalid Saifi, JNU students Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, Jamia Coordination Committee members Safoora Zargar, former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain and several others were booked under the stringent law in the case.
The violence had erupted during the protests against CAA and NRC and had left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.
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