The Karkardooma Court of Northeast Delhi granted bail to former Congress councilor Ishrat Jahan and three others who were arrested from an anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protest site at Khureji Khas in February.
However, activist Khalid Saifi’s bail application was dismissed. The bail orders came late and the court cited that he could not get bail due to pending investigation against him.
Surprisingly though, during this while, the special branch of the Delhi police filed another case against both, Saifi and Jahan stating that they were the masterminds of the Delhi communal riots that took place in February. Both were then produced before the Patiala House Court without the presence of a lawyer post which a Special Cell of the police decided to remand them to a custody of six days.
In light of this, United against Hate put out a statement condemning the false charges invoked against Khalid Saifi and Ishrat Jahan and demanded their immediate release. The organization has also demanded that an independent investigation team under the guidance of the Delhi High Court be instituted to probe into the Delhi violence.
The Jagatpuri police had arrested Saifi on February 26 and brutally tortured him at the police station. Due to this, he suffered a fracture in his leg and is now moving around in a wheelchair. He is a diabetic and now his health is deteriorating day by day. Even then, the Delhi police is accusing Saifi of lying saying that if he was hurt why he didn’t say so during his first court appearance. However, the fact is that Saifi’s first appearance in court was not in the court room, but at the parking lot of the premises where lawyers were not allowed entry.
In its statement, United against Hate has said that the Delhi police is avoiding nabbing the right-wing extremist elements who perpetrated the violence in Delhi during February 23 – February 25 and falsely implicating social and human rights activists in these cases.
Their statement read, “We oppose such false, offensive and fake actions of the Delhi Police, because due to this the real culprits are still being allowed to roam free while people who work for the betterment of the society are being ill-treated.”
“At a time when the country is going through a severe health crisis, when people are being prevented from going to public places and the courts are working at minimum capacity, it is shameful to see that at such a time too, human rights and social workers are being wrongly arrested by the police and not even being provided adequate judicial facilities for their protection,” the statement added.
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