Giriraj Singh (File photo)
NEW DELHI: Union minister Giriraj Singh on Monday said Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam’s actions were the “same” as those of Pakistani terrorist Kasab, as the Supreme Court refused bail to Khalid and Imam in the 2020 north-east Delhi riots case. Welcoming the Supreme Court’s decision, the BJP leader said: “Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam have worked to sever the Chicken’s Neck corridor and spread hatred against the country; they are doing the same work that Pakistan is doing.””I welcome the judiciary’s decision. Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam have worked to sever the Chicken’s Neck corridor and spread hatred against the country; they are doing the same work that Pakistan is doing. They are doing the same kind of work that Kasab did. Those who are supporting them should be ashamed,” Giriraj told news agency ANI. Earlier, the BJP welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision to deny bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam.Party spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla hailed the verdict as “Satyameva Jayate” and demanded that the Congress must apologise for “defending” the accused.Following the verdict, Poonawalla wrote in a post on X: “Satyameva Jayate… Prima facie allegations are true… Organised not organic, Sponsored not spontaneous. Congress must apologise for its support to tukde tukde gang from Afzal to Umar and Sharjeel.”The BJP spokesperson justified the stand that the Delhi riots were not spontaneous. He demanded an apology from the Congress party, alleging that it had supported those accused of playing a key role in the violence.Speaking to reporters, Poonawalla said, “Today we would say Satyamev Jayate. The Supreme Court has denied bail to the poster boys of the ‘Tukde Tukde Gang’, Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, whose role in the Delhi riots and charges against UAPA have been prima facie found to be true. It shows that the Delhi riots were not organic but organised, not spontaneous but sponsored.”Meanwhile, after the top court verdict on Monday denied bail to him, Umar Khalid said that “jail was his life now”.His partner Banjyosna Lahiri said that he was happy and relieved for the co-accused who were granted bail, even as he remarked that prison has now become his life.Sharing Khalid’s reaction on X, Lahiri quoted him as saying: “I am really happy for the others who got bail. So relieved.” When she told him she would come the next day for a meeting, Khalid replied, “Good, good, aa jana. Ab yahi zindagi hai.”The Supreme Court refused to grant bail to activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the alleged larger conspiracy behind the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, holding that a prima facie case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) was made out against them.At the same time, the top court granted bail to Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Shifa Ur Rehman, Mohd. Saleem Khan and Shadab Ahmad.The Supreme Court also observed that delay in the conduct of a trial cannot be treated as a “trump card” to automatically override statutory safeguards under stringent laws such as the UAPA.The violence in northeast Delhi in February 2020, which broke out during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, claimed 53 lives and left more than 700 people injured.
