Umar Khalid booked under UAPA, communal violence was ‘premeditated conspiracy’, claims FIR

New Delhi: JNU student leader Umar Khalid and Jamia students Meeran Haider and Safoora Zargar has been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in a case related to communal violence in northeast Delhi over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

The students have also been booked for the offences of sedition, murder, attempt to murder, promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and rioting.

In the FIR, the police has claimed that the communal violence was a “premeditated conspiracy” which was allegedly hatched by Khalid and two others.

The FIR says that Umar Khalid had delivered provocative speeches at two different locations and appealed to citizens to hit the streets and block roads during the visit by US President Donald Trump to spread propaganda at the international level about minorities being attacked in India. The FIR also claimed that in this conspiracy, firearms, petrol bombs, acid bottles and stones were collected at numerous homes.

Zargar had been arrested on April 13, with police claiming she was among those who organised an anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protest and road blockade under the Jafrabad Metro Station in Delhi on February 22-23. The protest had led to a pro-CAA rally by Kapil Mishra and his supporters, following which riots broke out in the district.

Massive communal riots broke out in the national capital during Donald Trump’s visit to India. The riots cost huge losses to life and property. Over the course of the investigation, the role of Radical Islamist organization PFI and others came to the fore. Home Minister Amit had promised on the floor of the Parliament that a thorough investigation into the matter would be carried out and the guilty would be punished.