On 10th April, during the bail hearing of anti-Hindu Delhi Riots accused Umar Khalid in Karkardooma Court, Delhi, the public prosecutor said a false narrative is being set in media and on social media to influence the judiciary by media houses, activists and NGOs to influence judiciary in favour of Khalid. Yesterday, the prosecutor categorically pointed out that when Khalid was not in jail, he was using media and social media to set a narrative. He would make posts on social media and use his influential contacts to set the narrative especially when there would be bail hearings of the Delhi Riots accused.
On the 9th of April during the hearing, Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad revealed WhatsApp chats between Umar Khalid and several influential individuals like Swara Bhaskar, Sushant Singh, AltNews, Yogendra Yadav, Sanjukta Basu, Pooka Bhatt and others to demonstrate how he was creating a false narrative in his favour to influence the judiciary in his favour.
He had also give the example of SQR Ilyasi’s interview with The Wire’s Arfa Khanum Sherwani where he gave several false and misleading statements. Notably, during the interview, Ilyasi mentioned 14 adjournments at the Supreme Court for Khalid’s bail hearings but conveniently skipped the part that out of 14, seven adjournments were sought by Khalid.
This interview was played in court to demonstrate how the narrative is being gamed in order to influence the judicial process.
Today, the SPP said that while Umar Khalid was out of jail, he was using influential persons to change the narrative in his favour. However, now, while he is in jail, the narrative is being poisoned by others on social media and the media to influence the judicial process in his case.
The prosecutor took several names like Teesta Setalvad, Aakar Patel, Amnesty International, Azhar Khan, Kaushik Raj and Swati Chaturvedi who have been helping in setting the narrative. The prosecutor further mentioned that these individuals and entities run hashtags in his support and present a false narrative of the case.