Synopsis: The court also ordered the prison authorities to allow Khalid to move about freely and to give him warm clothes in view of the imminent winter, the day after Khalid complained of being held in solitary confinement.
A Delhi court extended the judicial custody of Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, accused of planning to plan the Delhi riots, until 20 November.
Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat ordered the superintendent of Tihar Jail to ensure that, in compliance with the law, they were permitted to leave their cells.
The court ordered the superintendent to ensure that, according to fair safety considerations, Khalid was allowed out during the daily timings of sunrise to 12 noon, and 3 pm to sunset.
During the hearing, accused and former JNU student Umar Khalid claimed that he was in solitary confinement because he was not permitted to step outside his cell. “Security does not mean that I need to be punished like this,” Khalid told the court during the hearing. He said it was done on the orders of an additional jail superintendent.
Khalid also said that from the last few days he is not well and he feels pain, not only physical but also mental, because of the orders to keep him confined to the cell all the time.
The court then summoned the superintendent of the prison and placed the petition for further hearing for the next day.
At the hearing, JNU student Sharjeel Imam also stated that he was not permitted to travel freely. The judge ordered his counsel to file an application, and the superintendent was ordered to ensure the rules were followed.
The police had demanded that two of them be extended to judicial detention for 30 days.
The court ordered the Delhi Police to provide Khalid adequate protection on October 17. Because of his “ideological differences and dissenting opinion,” the order came on a petition filed by the JNU student seeking reasonable protection.
Khalid was charged in connection with the communal violence that took place in Northeast Delhi in February this year under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.