New Delhi – Five years after his arrest on September 13,2020,student activist Umar Khalid remains imprisoned,a case human rights organizations are decrying as a “derailment of justice” and a chilling effect on dissent in India. Khalid was charged under the Indian Penal Code with offenses including sedition, murder, promoting enmity between religious groups, unlawful assembly, and rioting, as well as under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the Prevention of Damage to Property Act, and the Arms Act.
The arrest followed the february 2020 communal violence in Delhi, which erupted during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the proposed National Population Register. The violence left 53 people dead, 38 of whom were Muslims, and hundreds injured. While perpetrators of the violence have largely gone unpunished, authorities arrested peaceful protesters, including at least 18 students and activists, the majority of them Muslim, accusing them of instigating the violence and conspiring to defame the Indian government.
Khalid’s bail applications have been denied at least four times by trial and appellate courts, most recently on September 2, 2023. A petition before the Supreme Court of India was adjourned at least 14 times over eleven months, ultimately leading khalid to withdraw it.
“Starved of justice, khalid’s prolonged persecution exemplifies the derailment of justice in India as it makes a mockery of international human rights principles,” saeid Aakar patel, chair of the board of Amnesty India.
A joint statement released on September 12, 2024, by Amnesty International, CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen participation, International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Forum Asia, Front Line Defenders, and World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of human Rights Defenders, called for Khalid’s immediate release. The statement alleges that those with “incitement or complicity in violence that followed the anti-CAA protests in 2020 continue to enjoy impunity,” and points to “clear cases of selective prosecution aimed at criminalizing and chilling dissent in India.”
