A Delhi court has reinstated jailed activist Umar Khalid’s right to two weekly video meetings with his family.
IMAGE: Former JNU student Umar Khalid has been in prison since September 2020. Photograph: ANI Photo
Key Points
- Delhi court allows Umar Khalid two weekly e-mulakats with family.
- Activist Khalid’s video meeting facility was reduced from two to one without cause.
- Court noted Khalid’s six-year record of using two e-mulakats without rule violation.
- Jail authorities had argued for only one weekly e-mulakat based on prison rules.
- Khalid is an accused in the larger conspiracy case related to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots.
A Delhi court has allowed jailed activist Umar Khalid to have two video meetings (e-mulakats) with his family every week after his counsel claimed it was reduced to one from May 2026 without any reason.
Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai noted that he had been availing the facility for the past six years without violating prison rules.
The court passed the order on an application moved by Khalid, who has been facing trial in the larger conspiracy case related to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots.
Court Upholds Prisoner’s Right To Family Contact
In the order dated July 13, the court said, “Since the applicant has been using two e-mulakats in a week for the last six years and has not violated any rule of the Delhi Prisons Rules, the applicant is allowed to have two e-mulakats per week for the purpose of talking to his mother and other family members”.
Khalid’s counsel submitted before the court that since his incarceration, he had been permitted two e-mulakats every week, but the facility was reduced to one from May 2026 without any reason, despite there being no violation of prison rules on his part.
The jail authorities opposed the plea, submitting that under the applicable prison rules, Khalid was entitled to only one e-mulakat per week.
The court, however, said that Khalid had been availing two weekly e-mulakats for the last six years and had not violated any provision of the Delhi Prisons Rules during this period.
Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and several others were booked under the UAPA and provisions of the IPC on allegations that they were the “masterminds” behind the February 2020 riots in northeast Delhi.
The violence, which broke out amid protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens, had left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.
