Former JNU student leader Umar Khalid was arrested on Sunday by the Delhi police for allegedly “conspiring” in the Delhi riots, which took place in the last week of February.
He was arrested under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Reports said his phone was also seized by the Delhi police.
NDTV quoted a member of the collective United Against Hate, of which Khalid is a part, as saying, “After 11 hours of interrogation, the Delhi Police Special Cell has arrested Umar Khalid as a conspirator in the Delhi Riots case. The fairy tale narrative that DP (Delhi Police) has been spinning and criminalising protests in the garb of investigating riots, finds yet another victim.”
Khalid is one of the many people who have protested against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) to have been summoned or arrested in connection with the Delhi riots, in which more than 50 people, mostly Muslims, were killed.
Khalid’s arrest comes after the Delhi police also named CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, economist Jayati Ghosh and Yogendra Yadav in a supplementary chargesheet in relation to the Delhi riots.
As news of Khalid’s arrest broke, people began to tweet with the hashtag #StandWithUmarKhalid. By Monday afternoon, the hashtag had been used more than 180,000 times.