Special cell of Delhi Police conducted a raid at the home of Delhi Minorities Commission chairman Dr Zafarul Islam Khan on May 6. A week ago, the Delhi Police had charged Dr Khan with sedition.
As reported earlier, septuagenarian Dr Khan’s is perhaps the only one holding a Constitutional post to be charged under Indian Penal Code section 124 A (sedition) and 153 A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony). The cases were booked on the basis of a first information report (FIR) filed in Delhi.
On May 6 evening the police landed up at his doorstep. His lawyer, Vrinda Grover, has issued a statement making Delhi Police aware that their actions are against a senior citizen and the law does not permit them to call him to the police station. “You are informed that Dr. Zafarul-Islam Khan is a senior citizen of 72 years age and he suffers from old age related physical illnesses that make him extremely vulnerable to the Covid-19 coronavirus. The law as per section 160 CrPC mandates that the police cannot compel attendance of a person above 65 years age at any place other than their residence for the purpose of investigation and interrogation. You are required as per law to question / interrogate Dr. Zafarul-Islam Khan only in his residence and you cannot compel him to go to any police station,” she stated.
“As Dr. Zafarul-Islam Khan’s lawyer I am hereby placing on record that as per law you cannot compel him to go to the police station. That would violate the CrPC and amount to illegal police action against the rights of my Client,” Vrinda Grover told the police.
Chairman of the Delhi Minorities Commission, Dr Zafarul Islam Khan (72), is a world renowned scholar, journalist and civil rights activist. He is known the world over as an eminent Muslim scholar who was one of the first to speak up againt the terror outfit Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS or the Islamic State (IS), and all others who unleash crimes against humanity. His interventions on problems of minorities in Delhi have made him a respectable figure among not only Muslims but Sikh, Christians, Jains and Parsis, say activists, many of whom have spoken out in solidarity with Dr Khan .
On his part, Dr Khan has always said: “I am a patriot to the core and I have always defended my country abroad.”
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Accusing Dr Zafarul Islam Khan of sedition, is an attempt to intimidate: Activists