Pointing to UAPA, Owaisi blames Congress for denial of bail to Khalid, Imam

Amravati, Jan 10 (PTI) All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday blamed Congress for activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam not getting bail, stating that the stringent UAPA under which they have been booked was enacted during a Congress government.

The Hyderabad MP was speaking at a public meeting in Chandni Chowk area of Amravati in Maharashtra ahead of January 15 civic elections.

The people who talk of secularism during elections are in fact enemies of Muslim, Dalits and tribals as they use political secularism to gain votes, he said.

Both Khalid and Imam were denied bail by the Supreme Court in the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case on the basis of section 15 A of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, he said.

It was then home minister P Chidambaram who introduced the UAPA (during the Congress-led regime), and he (Owaisi) was the only one who objected to it in Parliament, said Owaisi.

"I was the only one who had said that this law would be used by police against Muslims, tribals, Dalits and those intellectuals who understand and oppose the government's policies. You can see what happened today, these two children could not get bail because of the definition of terrorism in that law," he said.

While Khalid and Imam are languishing in jail for five years, 85-year-old Stan Swamy -- an accused in the Elgar Parishad case -- died in jail because of this law, Owaisi added.

The Congress supported the BJP government when UAPA was amended in 2019, which is now destroying innocent lives, he further said.

The Supreme Court on Monday refused bail to activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case but granted it to five others, citing “hierarchy of participation”. PTI COR CLS KRK