Delhi police have accused two Muslim student activists with “bogus” charges of conspiring to incite the recent riots in the Indian capital which proved to be the worst religious violence on the city.
The Delhi police were found to remain complicit onlookers of these riots. Yet Meeran Haider and Safoora Zargar, students at Delhi’s Muslim-majority Jamia Millia Islamia University, were charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. The act is reserved for terrorist activity and means they can be held for six months.
Both the students who had been in police custody on 1 April, have also been charged with sedition, murder, possession of arms, incitement of violence, attempt to murder, and promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and rioting.
The charges are related to an alleged “premeditated conspiracy” to stir up communal hatred through a series of speeches, which police say led to the deadly religious riots in Delhi.
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Six others individuals were also arrested in same connection in early April but were released on bail.
The police report states officers collected firearms, petrol bombs, acid bottles and stones from the students’ homes. Lawyers representing the men have however refuted these claims saying they found no evidence or documentation on such grounds.
The riots are attributed to incendiary comments made by Kapil Mishra, a BJP leader, about Muslims peacefully protesting against a controversial new citizenship law. Video evidence and witness accounts pointed to police allowing Hindu mobs to roam the streets freely to target the Musl
Akram Khan, the lawyer representing Haider, a PhD student at Jamia Millia University, said: “There is no evidence to substantiate these allegations or even to connect my client to these riots at all. He was not even present. He was participating in the peaceful protests against CAA at Jamia Milia University so he was known to the police, but that’s all. But we still have not even been given the full charge sheet and I have seen no evidence.”
Umar Khalid, a former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student leader, who was among those leading the anti-CAA protests in December, has also been named on the police report on the alleged conspiracy to cause riots, but has not been arrested.
Shehla Rasheed, a former JNU student union leader, tweeted: “Yet another bogus case! It’s shameful how the government of India is exploiting the lockdown (no protest) to target progressive activists, intellectuals, journalists. Stay strong.”
The Jamia Coordination Committee, a student and alumni group, also condemned the arrests. “The country is facing a massive health crisis. However, the state machinery is busy harassing and framing student activists in false cases to suppress voices of dissent,” it said.
The total number of arrests made in connection with the Delhi riots remains unclear, with official figures ranging wildly from around 50 to over 3,000.
