Umar Khalid (born Syed Umar Khalid) is an Indian student activist, former research scholar at

Jawaharlal Nehru University Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is a public major research university located in New Delhi, India. It was established in 1969 and named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The university is known for leading faculties and r ...

, former leader of Democratic Students' Union (DSU) in JNU. He was allegedly involved in the Jawaharlal Nehru University sedition row and is an accused under the UAPA law. Khalid is also associated with United Against Hate (UAH), a campaign founded along with

Nadeem Khan (social activist) Nadeem Khan (born Mohammad Wasiq Nadeem Khan; December 15, 1977) is an Indian human rights activist. Khan is the National Secretary of the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR). He is a co-founder of United Against Hate. Early life ...

in July 2017 in response to the series of lynchings.

Early life and education

Umar Khalid was born in Jamia Nagar, New Delhi, and has lived there for the last 30 years. His father, Syed Qasim Rasool Ilyas, is from Maharashtra, while his mother is from Western Uttar Pradesh. S.Q.R. Ilyas is the National President of the Welfare Party of India and a former member of

Students Islamic Movement of India The Students' Islamic Movement of India (abbreviated SIMI) is a banned terrorist organisation that was formed in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh in April 1977. The stated mission of SIMI is the ‘liberation of India’ by converting it to an Islamic la ...

, a banned Islamist Terrorist organisation, which he left in 1985. Khalid studied history at the

Kirori Mal College Kirori Mal College is a constituent college of the University of Delhi. Established in 1954, it is located in the North Campus of the university in New Delhi, India. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the sciences, humanities ...

of the

Delhi University Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate Central university (India), central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and ...

. He later did his master's and

MPhil The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil m ...

in history at Jawarhlal Nehru University (JNU). His MPhil dissertation was on ' Hos of Singhbhum'. Khalid describes himself as a hardcore communist who is not a practising Muslim. Khalid's PhD thesis was titled “Contesting claims and contingencies of the rule on

Adivasi The Adivasi refers to inhabitants of Indian subcontinent, generally tribal people. The term is a Sanskrit word coined in the 1930s by political activists to give the tribal people an indigenous identity by claiming an indigenous origin. The term ...

s of

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . It ...

” and was submitted to the JNU in 2018. Following his PhD, he published a research article titled "Changing Village Authority in an Adivasi Hinterland: State, Community and Contingencies of Rule in Singhbhum, 1830–1897" in the journal ''Social Scientist'' in 2018.

Activism and controversies

JNU Sedition Row

On 9 February 2016, students of

(JNU) held a protest on their campus against the

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

meted out to the

2001 Indian Parliament attack The 2001 Indian Parliament attack was a terrorist attack on the Parliament of India in New Delhi, India on 13 December 2001. The perpetrators belonged to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) - two Pakistan-raised terrorist organisa ...

convict

Afzal Guru Mohammad Afzal Guru (June 1969 – 9 February 2013) was a Kashmiri separatist, who was convicted for his role in the 2001 Indian Parliament attack. He received a death sentence for his involvement, which was upheld by the Indian Supreme Co ...

, and Kashmiri separatist

Maqbool Bhat Maqbool Bhat also spelt Maqbool Butt (18 February 1938 – 11 February 1984) was a Kashmiri separatist leader who migrated to Pakistan-administered Kashmir and founded the militant group National Liberation Front (NLF), which was a precursor ...

. Four days after the event, the Delhi Police arrested JNU Student Union president

Kanhaiya Kumar Kanhaiya Kumar is an Indian political activist who served as the president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union and leader of the All India Students Federation (AISF). He served as National Executive Council member of Communist ...

on charges of

sedition Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, estab ...

and criminal conspiracy. Five other students including Umar Khalid went into hiding. After their return 10 days later, Umar Khaled and Anirban Bhattacharya was also taken into custody. The arrest and the use of sedition charges were widely criticized as suppression of

political dissent Political dissent is a dissatisfaction with or opposition to the policies of a governing body. Expressions of dissent may take forms from vocal disagreement to civil disobedience to the use of violence.JNU meted out varying punishments to a number of students.

was fined 10,000 rupees, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya were rusticated for one semester. JNU refused to allow Umar Khalid to submit his PhD thesis in July 2018. Khalid went to the

Delhi High Court The High Court of Delhi (IAST: ''dillī uchcha nyāyālaya'') was established on 31 October 1966, through the ''Delhi High Court Act, 1966'', with four judges, Chief Justice K. S. Hegde, Justice I. D. Dua, Justice H. R. Khanna and Justice S. ...

, and obtained an order allowing him to submit his thesis. On 2 August 2018, JNU accepted the PhD thesis submission. On 28 February 2020, the Delhi government gave its approval for a trial in the sedition case.

Bhima Koregaon incident

Along with

Jignesh Mevani Jignesh Mevani (alternatively Mewani; born 11 December 1980) is an Indian politician, lawyer, activist and former journalist serving as the representative of the Vadgam constituency in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly since 2017. He is a membe ...

, Umar Khalid was booked under a first-information report for giving 'provocative' speeches in

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

. The criminal charges against Mevani and Khalid was for promoting enmity between different groups through their speeches. The Elgaar Parishad rally, where this reportedly happened, was held in Pune to mark the 200th year of the

Battle of Koregaon The Battle of Koregaon was fought on 1 January 1818 between the British East India Company and the Peshwa faction of the Maratha Confederacy, at Koregaon Bhima. A 28,000-strong force led by Peshwa Baji Rao II whilst on their way to attack the ...

, a place in present-day Pune district, which was fought between the then

British Indian Army The British Indian Army, commonly referred to as the Indian Army, was the main military of the British Raj before its dissolution in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of the British Indian Empire, including the princely states, which co ...

and the

Peshwas The Peshwa (Pronunciation: e(ː)ʃʋaː was the appointed (later becoming hereditary) prime minister of the Maratha Empire of the Indian subcontinent. Originally, the Peshwas served as subordinates to the Chhatrapati (the Maratha king); later, ...

Assassination attempt

On 13 August 2018, Khalid narrowly escaped an assassination attempt. The two accused were arrested on 20 August 2018 by police from Fatehabad,

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

. Before the arrest, the accused had uploaded a video on Facebook on 15 August, saying the attack was an Independence Day gift for India, and they also wanted to highlight the issue of cow protection.

Arrest in 2020

Umar Khalid was booked under UAPA by Delhi Police for his alleged "provocative speeches" during the visit of American President Donald Trump to India. Delhi police considered his speeches as instigating and facilitating the

2020 Delhi riots The 2020 Delhi riots, or North East Delhi riots, were multiple waves of bloodshed, property destruction, and rioting in North East Delhi, beginning on 23 February 2020 and caused chiefly by Hindu mobs attacking Muslims. Of the 53 people kille ...

. On 14 September 2020, Khalid was arrested by the

Delhi Police The Delhi Police (DP) is the law enforcement agency for the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). Delhi Police comes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India. In 2015, sanctioned strength of Delhi ...

Special Cell as an alleged conspirator in the Delhi Riots case. In charge sheets related to the riots, the police have said Khalid met suspended and jailed Aam Aadmi Party's councillor Tahir Hussain and activist Khalid Saifi on 8 January at the Shaheen Bagh sit-in protest site against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA)-National Register of Citizens (NRC) to allegedly plan the riots. He was interrogated twice for his alleged role. The police also linked Khalid's speeches to the riots. The Delhi Police's special cell is looking into a larger conspiracy case in addition to multiple cases filed in connection with the riots. Delhi Police has filed supplementary charge sheet against Umar Khalid in connection with the Delhi riots. The police said this case is a multi-layered conspiracy and a pre-planned riot and there is sufficient evidence available to proceed against Khalid. In early January 2021, a Delhi court agreed with the chargesheet. Khalid filed a bail plea in July 2021, after eight month long hearing his bail application was dismissed. In the bail order the court said that the allegations against Khalid are prima facie true and his role in the "context of conspiracy" related to Delhi riots was apparent. In March 2022, the court denied bail to Khalid. An Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat stated that Khalid's plea had "no merit and substance" for the bail to be granted. On 13 September 2022, as he completes two years in

Tihar Jail Tihar Prisons, also called Tihar Jail and Tihar Ashram, is a prison complex in India and the largest complex of prisons in South Asia. Run by Department of Delhi Prisons, Government of Delhi, the prison contains nine central prisons, and is one ...

under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act or UAPA, accused by the

of involvement in

, ''The Wire'' published Khalid's response to an open letter. By employing UAPA, he says, we can be kept in jail for years, without those framing us needing to prove anything. On 18 October 2022, the Delhi High Court dismissed the bail plea of Khalid, as Delhi Police opposed it. On December 3, 2022, a Delhi court acquitted him in stone pelting case during Delhi riots.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Khalid, Umar Living people Indian activists Kirori Mal College alumni Jawaharlal Nehru University alumni 1987 births Centre for Political Studies (CPS), Jawaharlal Nehru University People involved in the Citizenship Amendment Act protests Delhi University alumni Indian communists