The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision of not granting bail to accused Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the 2020 Delhi riots case. BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala called Khalid and Imam “poster boys of the tukde tukde gang”.
Poonawala said that even the Supreme Court denied bail to both accused in the Delhi riots case.The BJP spokesperson said that the Congress always supported “tukde tukde gang” members.
During his media briefing, Poonawalla also stated, “The ‘Tukde Tukde’ gang is pained by the decision. Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam were not merely receiving sympathies from the Congress and its ecosystem, but also letters from abroad. Not only has the bail been rejected, but the Supreme Court has also observed that the crimes committed – including charges of terrorism and burning Delhi – prima facie appear valid.”
He said that the riots were not a coincidence, but “an anti-Hindu” experiment. “This was not sanyog but Hindu virodhi prayog. Organised, not organic. Sponsored, not spontaneous,” the BJP spokesperson stated.
He also demanded an apology from the Congress for its alleged support to Khalid and Imam. “Congress must apologise for its support to the tukde tukde gang, from Afzal to Umar and Sharjeel,” he stated.
Earlier in the day, the top court denied bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the Delhi riots case. Meanwhile, the top court granted conditional bail to five other accused — Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Shifa ur Rehman, Shadab Ahmed and Mohd Saleem Khan — in the case. A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and NV Anjaria pronounced the verdict. On December 10, the bench had reserved the order.
The court noted that Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam stand on a “qualitatively different footing” both in terms of prosecution and evidence. It noted that their roles were “central” to the alleged offences.
Here’s What Umar Khalid’s Father said:
Khalid’s father, Syed Qasim Rasool Ilyas, refused to comment on the verdict. “I don’t want to say anything. I heard the judgment,” he told reporters.
Over 50 people were killed, while around 700 were injure din the riots that broke out in northeast Delhi in February 2020 during protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
