"That Smile On His Face, Even As He Stands At The Very End Of Hope's Cliff:" When Anirban Bhattacharya Meets Umar Khalid (image: facebook.com/umar.khalid.984)

The bail plea of former JNU student leader Umar Khalid, was adjourned on Wednesday for the sixth time. In this context, his friend, Anirban Bhattacharya”s Facebook post on meeting the jailed activist on January 9 is getting importance.

“How the denial of bail, he thinks, end up being interpreted as the vindication of the fabrications of the chargesheet no matter how far from truth. How new “truths” are thereby invented and propagated by the media,” Anirban writes about their conversation.

In the beginning of the post, Anirban Bhattacharya writes: “Jail mulaqat with Umar is always a burst of flavours…”

Anirban then points out how erasure of history and media whitewashing happening every day. “How they are rewriting not just our distant past, but even our lived histories. How the stains left by the chariot get whitewashed every day in the media these days.”

He adds how Umar Khalid enjoyed reading Rahi Masoom Raza”s A Village Divided, how a differently abled prisoner is finding a friend in him, and how he “always has so much to share”, be it anything.

Before concluding the note, Anirban writes how seeing his friend”s smile dissolves his worries. “…Had a few odd things in life that was causing me some anxiety for the last couple of weeks. But through that greased glass barrier as one looks at that smile on his face, even as he stands at the very end of hope”s cliff, your own worries somehow dissolve,” it read.

In February 2016, the Delhi Police booked Umar Khalid, Kanhaiya Kumar, and Anirban Bhattacharya, along with many others, for the JNU sedition case. However, Delhi court granted relief to them during the legal proceedings. Anirban Bhattacharya now works for a think tank.

Umar Khalid is currently in jail as an undertrial for his alleged involvement in the February 2020 Delhi communal riots case. He was arrested in September 2020. Khalid is seeking bail referring police’s failure in proving the charges against him and also challenges the validity of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act’s Section 43D, which puts strict conditions for getting bail.

While adjourning the bail plea for the sixth time, the apex court warned that further adjournment would not be granted. The next hearing is to be held on January 24.