New Delhi: The Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) organised “Hum Dekhenge: An Evening of Cultural Resistance” at the Press Club of India here Wednesday, marking six years since the arrest of activist and former JNU student Umar Khalid.
The programme brought together poets, musicians, writers and performers through poetry, resistance songs, dastaan (storytelling), recitations and a presentation of Khalid’s prison diary. Performances were given by Haider Saif, Dastak and Hashiye Se, along with a dastaan by Asshar Haqqe and poetry readings by Adnan Kafeel Darwesh and Qamar Abbas. Alka Ranjan, Purwa Bharadwaj and Raza Haider presented excerpts from Umar Khalid’s prison diary.
Umar Khalid was arrested by the Delhi Police Special Cell in September 2020 in connection with the alleged larger conspiracy case linked to the February 2020 riots in North-East Delhi. He was booked under UAPA along with provisions of the Indian Penal Code and other laws.
Six years on, Khalid remains in custody. His third application for regular bail was rejected by the trial court on July 4, 2026, following which he approached the Delhi High Court, challenging the order. On July 31, the High Court issued notice on his appeal and bail application and directed that relevant jail records be placed before it.
The bail question has also come before the Supreme Court. In January 2026, the Court rejected bail applications filed by Khalid and Sharjeel Imam while granting bail to five other accused in the case. A subsequent Supreme Court order in May 2026 raised questions about the approach to bail under Section 43D(5) of the UAPA and referred the issue to a larger bench. As of August 2026, charges had not yet been framed in the larger conspiracy case, according to reporting on proceedings before the Delhi High Court.
Against this legal backdrop, APCR’s programme centred on the cultural forms through which people have recorded experiences of imprisonment, dissent and public life, rather than on speeches. Poetry, music and storytelling made up the bulk of the evening, with the reading from Khalid’s prison diary offering an account of his experience of incarceration alongside performances drawing on different traditions of political and social expression.
