Why is Delhi Police using anti-terror law against Jamia Milia Islamia scholars?

Delhi Police Image Courtesy:scroll.in

Continuing their ‘focus’ on one of the most prestigious universities in India, Delhi Police special cell has charged Jamia Alumni Association President Shifa-Ur-Rehman, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), reported NDTV. Rehman is also a member of Jamia Coordination Committee, and was booked by the special cell who have alleged that he was involved in the anti-Muslim pogrom in North East Delhi that took place in February this year.

Shifa-Ur-Rehman has been sent by court, to 10 days police remand for further interrogation. According to news reports police have claimed that they have “technical evidence against him which suggests that he incited mobs during the riots.” According to the news reports Rehman was spotted in the CCTV footage collected from the riot-affected areas. “We have checked his call record details and WhatsApp messages and found more evidence which suggests his involvement in the riots,” a senior police officer was quoted by NDTV.

Rehman, is the latest academic to be arrested by the special cell which has accused them of being involved in the riots. His fellow scholars from Jamia Millia Islamia, Meeran Haider and Safoora Zagar, who is said to be pregnant with her first child, had been arrested and charged under the UAPA, known as an anti-terror a law. They too were arrested and accused by the special cell of ‘hatching a conspiracy’ to incite the mass violence. While Safoora Zargar is the media coordinator of Jamia Coordination Committee, Meeran Haider is a member of the committee.

Investigations into the February 2020 communal violence which exploded in various areas of Northeast Delhi are being carried out by the Delhi Police Special Cell. According to a report in The Hindu newspaper, the special cell is investigating a “‘conspiracy’ behind the communal violence”. The report had also quoted Haider’s lawyer Akram Khan, saying that “they withdrew his bail application on Monday after police informed the court that Mr. Haider has been charged under IPC Section 302 (murder).”

Scores of activists, academics, journalists, teachers, scholars and eminent citizens of India have spoken in one voice to condemn the use of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) against those who use their Constitutional right to dissent peacefully.

Another prominent arrest was of JNU student leader Umar Khalid. In the first information report, the police have claimed that the violence was a “premeditated conspiracy” which was allegedly hatched by former JNU student leader Umar Khalid and two others. Violence had broken out in northeast Delhi on February 24 after clashes between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiraled, leaving at least 53 people dead and around 200 injured.

According to a report by PTI and carried by The Outlook magazine, the Delhi Police has told the court that the Anti-CAA-NPR-NRC protests at Jamia, where most of these students activists were involved, were “funded From Middle East.” The police told the court that Shifa-Ur-Rehman, a member of Jamia Coordination Committee, was involved in a criminal conspiracy along with former JNU student Umar Khalid, said the report.

The police has alleged that Rehman gave “provocative speeches at various places and appealed to the Muslim minority community gathering to block roads and other other public places during the visit of Donald Trump, USA President, on Feb 24-25 so that a propaganda may be flashed at the in international platform that the Muslim minority community in India are being tortured”.

The Outlook reports that Rehman was produced before Special Judge Sanjeev Kumar Jain by police who sought his custodial interrogation for 12 days and that the police told the court that Rahman’s name popped up after the “interrogation of Ishrat Jahan, Khalid Saifi, Meeran Haider, Safora, Gulfisa and Tahir Hussain.”

Police say that Rehman gave “hate speeches that lead to the riots in the month of February 2020 at various protest sites i.e. Jamia, Shaheen Bagh, Seelampur, Khureji, Inderlok & Hauz Rani.”

According to Outlook the police has also told the court that the interrogations have “revealed that Rehman received funds from the members of ALUMNI of Jamia Millia Islamia based in Middle East countries and he was co-coordinating the protest sites.”

In an earlier FIR, police have claimed that the communal violence was a “premeditated conspiracy” which was allegedly hatched by former JNU student leader Umar Khalid and two others.

Communal violence had broken out in northeast Delhi on February 24, 2020, after clashes between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiralled, leaving at least 53 people dead and around 200 injured.