Image Courtesy: thewire.in
Activist Khalid Saifi, who was detained on Wednesday from the protest site at KhurejiKhas, has been sent to judicial custody for 14 days and charged under Section 307, which amounts to ‘attempt to murder’. However, it is not clear on whose life Saifi has made an attempt. Consequently, activists have alleged that the charges have been concocted against him.
Ishrat Jahan, who for over two months was one of the chief organisers of the Khureji protest, was also detained and sent to 14 days judicial custody. She has alleged manhandling by the police. Her lawyer AvaniBansal has told the media that Jahan’s bail application was turned down on Thursday.
It is not clear is the woman in the above video is IshratJahan, a prominent volunteer at the Khureji protests. It is also not clear as to why she may have been detained.
Police have also removed the bamboo framework, gateway and awnings at the protest site as the videos below show.
Protests at Khureji have been taking place off the road, since January 13. Like the Shaheen Bagh anti-CAA protests, these too have been peopled mostly by locals, especially local women.
https://twitter.com/Shaheenbaghoff1/status/1233002619347644416
We strongly condemn the arrests of Ishrat Jahan, Khalid Saifi and 14 others on manufactured charges. We demand their immediate bail and for these false charges to be dropped. We stand by you ✊?#Delhigenocide #DelhiBurning #DelhiViolence
— Shaheen Bagh Official (@Shaheenbaghoff1) February 27, 2020
There are serious allegations that Saifi has been brutally beaten up in custody. He has been a visible voice in the movement in opposition to the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens. Since the violence began in north east Delhi, Saifi has been one of the leading figures who have attempted to broker peace between communities and arrange for medical care to reach those in need of it.
https://twitter.com/NabiyaKhan11/status/1232736139284566018
They are leaving no stone unturned to crush stronger voices that can challenge the current fascist status quo. Heartbroken that @KSaifi bhai has been arrested on false charges of attempt to murder and has been sent to 14 days police custody. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/l5mqt0nFHn
— Nabiya Khan | نبیہ خان (@NabiyaKhan11) February 26, 2020
It is yet unclear as to how many people have been detained from the site on Wednesday. The official Twitter handle of the ShaheenBagh protests has put the number at16 while lawyers say the number could be as high as 30. When lawyers from the collective Indian Civil Liberties Union went to the Jagatpuri police station to meet the detained, not only were they not allowed to go in, but were slapped, verbally abused and manhandled by personnel at the police station.
https://twitter.com/NabiyaKhan11/status/1232608308847992832
Received calls from @TamannaPankaj and @TheAdvIqbal
Delhi Police is attacking and beating them and other lawyers at Jagatpuri Police Station who went for d release of the detainees of Khureji. They are slapping and lathi charging women lawyers and their phones are being snatched.— Nabiya Khan | نبیہ خان (@NabiyaKhan11) February 26, 2020
“I was with the rest of the team when they started manhandling lawyers. They had started using batons as well. They were hitting my colleague Anas, and I was trying to film it, when a male cop slapped me. I screamed at him, asked him how dare he hit a woman,” Mekhala Saran, a law student and member of ICLU told media.
The Supreme Court Bar association has taken the matter of lawyers being attacked.
https://twitter.com/TheAdvIqbal/status/1232923930106748928
We thank the SCBA for taking up our assault matter with the Commissioner of Police, Delhi.
Detainees have a right to counsel and the Delhi Police must not prevent lawyers from doing their duty. @ICLU_Ind @HRLNIndia @TamannaPankaj @bansalavani @NabiyaKhan11 pic.twitter.com/O4Ji5r6SQ6— Arif Iqbal (@TheAdvIqbal) February 27, 2020
Saran’s accounts were confirmed by at least one lawyer who requested anonymity and other activists at the police station, one of whom sent The Wire the video he shot of the commotion with police, above.Police were also seen breaking CCTV cameras, and tearing down the awnings and tents at the site on Wednesday. Khureji is the second anti-CAA protest venue which has been dismantled by police. The one at Jaffrabad was the first.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1232574781356007425
Delhi Police vandalising Khureji Protest site right now. #CAAProtest pic.twitter.com/aT5CzTBQB7
— Nabiya Khan | نبیہ خان (@NabiyaKhan11) February 26, 2020
These videos tell their own tale
https://twitter.com/ShaheenBagh_/status/1232584046678441984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1232584046678441984&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fthewire.in%2Frights%2Fkhureji-khas-delhi-police
Time : 1:40pm, 26th February
Delhi police vandalizing khureji protest site. Lathi charge also hv been reported.@Ssaniya25 @MNAHUS @UAH_India @India_Resists @MirchiSayema @sushant_says @_MayankSaxena @Mdzeeshanayyub @UmarKhalidJNU @OmairTAhmad @AshrafFem pic.twitter.com/o0ykCImvee
— Shaheen Bagh Official (@ShaheenBagh_) February 26, 2020
In violence that has erupted since February 23, in which members of particular communities have been targeted, at least 34 people are understood to have died and several hundred are injured.
Amidst news that the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests at KhurejiKhas in north east Delhi have been ‘cleared’ by Delhi Police, scattered protesters at the site have been putting up social media posts of alleged manhandling, lathicharge and an unwarranted detentions by police.Lawyers from Indian Civil Liberties Union collective said they had not been allowed to enter the Jagatpuri police station, where the detainees were taken.
One of the lawyers present at the police station said that police first discouraged lawyers who were present at the police station from entering. After they waited there for more than an hour, and demanded to be let in to meet the unspecified number of people who have been detained, police began asking them to back off.
“An official began filming us, and another snatched away a phone from a female colleague who was filming the goings on,” said one of the lawyers on the scene, requesting anonymity.
