Hyderabad: A cartoon that went viral on Twitter portrayed student activist Umar Khalidâs bail plea hearing in the Delhi court in conjunction with the North East Delhi riots case in the most comical manner.
The cartoon which was first posted by @pencilashan on his Twitter handle satirized what unfolded in the courtroom hearing on Tuesday, and elucidated on how Umar Khalid was framed and maligned unfairly.
The cartoon posted by @pencilashan took a jab at how Umar Khalid was framed by a section of media in this case and also pointed to the forceful incarnation and hollow nature of the probe on the charges by Delhi Police. Advocate Trideep Pais representing Umar Khalid in his bail hearing pointed that the Delhi police investigation was based on a video circulated by Republic TV and News 18 wherein alleged calls for instigation riots were made by Khalid.
When asked about the raw footage from the channels, both the channels replied that they had taken the video out of a tweet posted by BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya and confessed not to have possessed the raw video footage of the event.
Both the channels aired the selected portion of Umar Khalidâs speech as carried in the tweet by Malviya which the prosecution cited as â inflammatoryâ as it contributed to maligning Khalid.
Pais remarked this as âdeath of Journalismâ and presented the full 21-minute clip of the event to the court brushing aside the claim that his client was making âinflammatory callsâ. He further pointed out that Khalid in his speech was talking about democratic power, unity and was not advocating calls for violence.
Netizens while circulating this cartoon in their tweet, took a jibe at the âallegedâ nexus of the Police – Press – Political Party and threw their weight behind the jailed activist.
Ex- JNU student Umar Khalid has been charged under stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act ( UAPA) for âallegedly â masterminding riots in North East Delhi in Feb 2020. Jamia Millia Islamia student Asif Iqbal Tanha, JNU students Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, Jamia Coordination Committee members Safoora Zargar, former AAP councilor Tahir Hussain were some of the several others who were booked under the stringent anti-terror law in connection to the riots.