New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday noted that former JNU student Umar Khalid’s February 17, 2020, speech in Amravati, Maharashtra, was in bad taste, but it did not make it a terrorist act.
Khalid was arrested on September 13, 2020, and has been in custody since then.
A Bench led by Justice Siddharth Mridul made the comment while hearing the bail plea of Khalid who has challenged a trial court’s March 24 order dismissing his bail application in the case. He was arrested in a UAPA case related to the alleged conspiracy behind the riots in the national capital in February 2020.
“That the speech is in bad taste. Does not make it a terrorist act. We understand that extremely well. If the case of the prosecution is premised on how offensive the speech was, that by itself would not constitute an offence. We will give them (prosecution) the opportunity,” said the Bench – which also included Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar.
The speech was “offensive” and “distasteful” and “may amount to defamation but it will not be tantamount to a terrorist activity”.
Khalid’s counsel read out the statements given by various protected witnesses in the case. The high court, which had earlier questioned Khalid for using certain objectionable words against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his speech in Amravati on February 21, 2020, posted the matter for further hearing on July 4.