Umar Khalid was born in Jamia Nagar, New Delhi and has lived there for the last 30 years. His father, Syed Qasim Rasool Ilyas, is from Maharashtra, while his mother is from Western Uttar Pradesh. S.Q.R. Ilyas is the National President of the Welfare Party of India and former member of Students Islamic Movement of India. Khalid studied history at the Kirori Mal College of the Delhi University. He later did his Masters and M.Phil in History at Jawarhlal Nehru University. His M.Phil dissertation was on 'Hos of Singhbhum'. Khalid's PhD thesis was titled “Contesting claims and contingencies of the rule on Adivasis of Jharkhand” and was submitted to the JNU in 2018. Following his PhD, he published a research article titled "Changing Village Authority in an Adivasi Hinterland: State, Community and Contingencies of Rule in Singhbhum, 1830–1897" in the journal Social Scientist in 2018. He earlier presented this paper at the Young Scholars' Conference, organised by the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Activism and Controversies
JNU Sedition Row
On 9 February 2016, students of Jawaharlal Nehru University held a protest on their campus against the capital punishment meted out to the 2001 Indian Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, and Kashmiri separatist Maqbool Bhat. During the "fracas" that ensued, a small group of people raised slogans that were generally described as "anti-India" slogans. Four days after the initial event, the Delhi Police arrested JNU Student Union president Kanhaiya Kumar on charges of sedition and criminal conspiracy, under section 124 of the Indian Penal Code dating back to 1860. Five other students: Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya, Rama Naga, Anant Prakash and Ashutosh Kumar, went into hiding after the arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar and returned 10 days later. Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya surrendered to the police and were taken into custody. The arrest and the use of the sedition law were heavily criticized as being a suppression of political dissent. An inquiry committee appointed later by the administration of JNU initially asked 21 students to explain their contravention of university rules. Based on the inquiry, the committee meted out varying punishments to a number of students. Kanhaiya Kumar was fined 10,000 rupees, after which Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya were rusticated from the university for one semester. On February 28th 2020, the Delhi government gave their approval for a trial in the matter. Due to the High-Level Enquiry Committee that looked into the 9 February 2016 incident protests at the University, JNU initially refused to allow Umar Khalid to submit his PhD thesis in July 2018. Umar Khalid went to the High Court of Delhi related to JNU's refusal to accept his PhD submission. On 24 July 2018 the High Court directed JNU to allow submission of the thesis. On 2 August 2018, JNU accepted the PhD thesis submission.
Bhima Koregaon incident
Along with Jignesh Mevani, Umar Khalid was booked under a first-information report for giving 'provocative' speeches in Pune. The criminal charges against Mevani and Khalid was for promoting enmity between different groups through their speeches. The Elgaar Parishad rally, where this reportedly happened, was held in Pune to mark the 200th year of the Battle of Koregaon, a place in present-day Pune district, which was fought between the then British Indian Army and the Peshwas.
Assassination attempt
On 13 August 2018, Khalid narrowly escaped an assassination attempt. The two accused were arrested on 20 August 2018 by police from Fatehabad, Haryana. Before the arrest, the accused had uploaded a video on Facebook on 15 August, saying the attack was an Independence Day gift for India, and they also wanted to highlight the issue of cow protection.
Umar Khalid was booked under UAPA by Delhi Police for his alleged "provocative speeches" during the visit of American President Donald Trump to India. Delhi police considered his speeches as instigating and facilitating Delhi riots - 2020.
