Six years in jail without trial ‘wreaked havoc’ on mind and body: Umar Khalid
Student activist in first interview from Tihar Jail calls charges 'dystopian'
New Delhi : Student activist Umar Khalid said nearly six years in jail without trial have “wreaked havoc on my mind and body”, but his opposition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government remains unchanged.
According to Kashmir Media Service, in his first interview from Delhi’s Tihar Jail since September 2020 arrest, the 38-year-old told The Guardian that “humanity is a privilege that is not granted to people like me”. Prisoner No. 626714 said evenings are hardest as “another day of your life has been spent in captivity”, a feeling he noted Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky described in his prison memoir.
Khalid was arrested under India’s terrorism laws and accused by Delhi Police of being a “key conspirator” in the February 2020 Delhi riots and conspiring to bring “violent regime change”. He calls the charges “dystopian” and denies them, stating he was 1,600 km away when violence broke out. Of 53 killed, most were Muslim.
Rising to prominence after a 2016 sedition case at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Khalid became a central voice in 2019 protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC). While co-accused got bail, his applications have been repeatedly delayed or denied, with no trial date set.
“Endlessly dashed hopes for freedom have been quite heartbreaking,” he said.
