BREAKING: Delhi Court rejects bail plea of United Against Hate founder Khalid Saifi in Delhi riots case

A Delhi Court Friday dismissed the bail plea of United Against Hate founder Khalid Saifi in an Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) case of Delhi riots, wherein he has been chargesheeted by the Delhi police [Khalid Saifi v. State]..Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat in a 69-page order held, “On the perusal of the chargesheet and accompanying documents, for the limited purpose of the bail, I am of the opinion that allegations against the accused Khalid Saifi are prima facie true.”.The order also maintained that since there were “reasonable grounds” to believe the accusation against Saifi were prima facie true, the embargo created by Section 43D of UAPA applied for grant of bail to the accused in addition to the embargo under Section 437 of the Code of Criminal Procedure..Section 437 of CrPC places an additional condition before releasing a person on bail if there are reasonable grounds for believing that accused has been guilty of offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life. Similarly, Section 43D of the UAPA stipulates that an accused person shall not be released on bail or on his own bond if the Court, on a perusal of the case diary or the report made under section 173 of the Code is of the opinion that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the accusation is prima facie true..In February this year, Senior Counsel Rebecca John, appearing for Saifi, argued that the only conspiracy taught in law is criminal conspiracy and there is no "conspiracy of silence". The submission was in response to Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad contention that Saifi was a member of United Against Hate and someone who was in touch with co-accused Umar Khalid. He was accused of setting up the Khureji protest site in North-East Delhi.Prasad had also relied on WhatsApp chats of witnesses and accused persons besides others, to connect the Delhi Riots to a “conspiracy of silence”..On Friday, however, Judge Rawat noted in the order that the accused persons had a “connectivity with each other” and a “cumulative role of all the accused persons was necessary to be seen to comprehend the entire structure and the conspiracy” as mentioned in the chargesheet..[Read Order]