Delhi Riots conspiracy: All you need to know ahead of the day-to-day hearing of the UAPA case

On Monday, a Delhi court will begin day-to-day hearings on charges to be framed in the conspiracy case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) registered against 18 accused persons in connection with the North East Delhi Riots of February 2020..Special Judge Amitabh Rawat at the Karkardooma courts has been designated to hear the case..The Delhi Police had initiated a conspiracy case against several persons, including students and activists, under the stringent anti-terror law. 751 FIRs were registered in connection with the violence, which claimed 50 lives and wounded more than 500 people.There were multiple arrests in the three years that followed the incident and subsequent chargesheets filed by the investigation agency named more than a dozen men and women.Many of the accused persons filed bail pleas, but barring a few, most were rejected (here, here and here) by the trial court, with the Delhi High Court stepping in later to grant relief in some cases..Here’s a look at some of the key events that have unfolded in the case so far..2020.May 2: Court rejects bail of former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Tahir HussainMay 30: Former Congress Councillor Ishrat Jahan gets bail for her wedding.June 4: Jamia student Safoora Zargar denied bail by Delhi court.June 23: Delhi High Court grants bail to Safoora Zargar.September 13: Delhi Police arrests Umar Khalid in UAPA case.September 14: Umar Khalid sent to 10 days police custody.September 16: Delhi Police’s special cell files a 17,000-page chargesheet against 15 persons before a Delhi Court. Among those named in the chargesheet are United Against Hate’s Khalid Saifi, former Congress councillor Ishrat Jahan; AAP ex-councillor Tahir Hussain; RJD youth wing’s Meeran Haider; Gulfisha, Jamia student Safoora Zargar and Pinjra Tod activists Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita ..September 17: Delhi court takes cognisance of chargesheet.October 20: Delhi court refuses bail to Gulfisha, others.October 23: Delhi High Court grants bail to Faizan Khan.November 22: Delhi Police files chargesheet against Umar Khalid, others under UAPA, Indian Penal Code (IPC) provisions.November 25: Court takes cognisance of charges against Khalid and others.The Delhi Police’s chargesheet claimed that it was a conspiracy to commit unlawful activities that attracted the provisions of the UAPA. The accused persons, it alleged, conspired to "cause disruption of such an extent and such a magnitude” that would lead to “disorderliness and disturbance of law and order” at an “unprecedented” scale. Protests were held on the day former US President Donald Trump was visiting India, so as to cause international embarrassment for the Government of India, it alleged.Of the four courts — one magisterial and one sessions court each in Shahdara and the North-East district — designated to hear the Delhi Riots cases, the court of Additional Sessions Judge Rawat happens to be the one hearing the UAPA case..2021.January: Delhi court refuses bail to Pinjra Tod members Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal.March 24: Delhi High Court vacates stay on trial in UAPA case.June 15: Delhi High Court grants bail to Asif Iqbal Tanha, Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal. July 15: Umar Khalid moves bail plea in UAPA case before Delhi court.July 27: Delhi Police opposes bail plea, says it will demonstrate “prima facie” case against Khalid.November 2: Umar Khalid argues that protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) were secular, chargesheet is communal..2022.February 16: Khalid Saifi seeks bail.March 2: Delhi Police files a supplementary chargesheet.March 15: Ishrat Jahan gets regular bail.March 17: Delhi court refuses bail to Gulfisha and Tasleem Ahmed.March 24: Delhi court denies regular bail to Umar Khalid.While refusing bail to the accused persons, the court emphasised there were "reasonable grounds” for believing that the accusations against them were prima facie true. Therefore, the embargo created by Section 43D of UAPA applies for grant of bail, it held.Section 43D(5) provides that any person accused of an offence committed in Part IV (Punishment for Terrorist Activities) and Part VI (Terrorist Organisations) of the UAPA shall not be granted bail “if the Court, on a perusal of the case diary or the report made under Section 173 of Code of Criminal Procedure, is of the opinion that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accusation against such person is prima facie true”. .April 8: Delhi court rejects Khalid Saifi’s bail plea.October 18: Delhi High Court denies bail to Umar Khalid.December 12: Umar Khalid gets interim bail of 7 days to attend sister’s wedding.December 12: Delhi High Court reserves order on Khalid Saifi’s bail plea.Saifi moves Delhi High Court with another plea seeking to argue what constitutes the expression ‘prima facie true’ stipulated under Section 43D (5) of UAPA..2023.May 18: Supreme Court issues notice on Umar Khalid’s bail plea.June: Delhi Police files its fifth supplementary chargesheet.July 28: Delhi High Court posts appeals of Saifi, Gulfisha, Haider, Imam, Jahan, Shadab Ahmed and Athar Khan for bail on a later date. This matter will come up on September 15, 2023.August 5: Delhi court says day-to-day hearing on point of charge will commence from September 11.August 9: Supreme Court’s Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra recuses from hearing Umar Khalid’s bail plea.August 18: Supreme Court adjourns Umar Khalid’s bail hearing..Charges against the accused .All 18 accused persons are facing charges for various offences under the UAPA and IPC, as well as provisions of the Arms Act, 1959 and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984.The charges are:Sections 13 (unlawful activities), 16 (terrorist act), 17 (raising funds for terrorist act), 18 (conspiracy to commit terror) of UAPA. Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) read with Sections 109 (abetment), 114 (abettor present when act committed), 124A (sedition), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting with deadly weapon), 149 (member of unlawful assembly with common object), 153A (promoting enmity), 186 (obstructing public servant), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), 212 (harbouring offender), 295 (defiling place of worship), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 341 (wrongful restraint), 353 (assault on public servant), 395 (dacoity), 419 (cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating), 427 (mischief causing damage), 435 (mischief by fire), 436 (mischief by fire to destroy house), 452 (house trespass), 454 (lurking house trespass), 468 (forgery), 471 (using forged document as genuine), 34 (common intention) of IPC Section 3 (damage to property) and 4 (damage to property using explosives) of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act,1984 Section 25 (certain offences) and 27 (using arms) of the Arms Act..Prosecution v. defence: Who appears for whom.Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad represents the State. Counsel for the accused include:Advocates Praavita Kashyap for Khalid Saifi; Advocate Amjad Khan for Ishrat Jahan; Advocate Chinmay Chatterjee for Meeran Haider; Advocates Tara Narula and Shivangi Sharma for Tahir Hussain; Advocate Maulshree for Gulfisha; Advocate Bilal A Khan for Shifa-Ur-Rehman and Salim Malik; Advocate Sowjhanya Shankaran for Asif Iqbal Tanha; Advocate Deeksha Dwivedi for Shadab Ahmed; Advocate Mohd Hasan for Tasleem Ahmed; Advocate Muneeza for Safoora Zargar; Advocate Ahmed Ibrahim for Sharjeel Imam; Advocate Sahil Ghai for Umar Khalid; Advocate Azra Rehman for Faizan Khan; Advocate Kunal Negi for Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita. Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal, CU Singh and Trideep Pais are representing Umar Khalid before the Supreme Court.