Delhi riots: Those acting against nation should be in jail till acquittal or conviction?

The Delhi Police on 9 July, Wednesday, argued in the Delhi High Court that the intention behind the February 2020 riots in the capital was to globally defame the nation by way of a well-planned and orchestrated criminal conspiracy by the accused persons, including Sharjeel Imam and Umar Khalid.

The Delhi Police was opposing the bail pleas of the accused persons when it argued before a bench of justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur that it was not a spontaneous riot but a well-organised act planned in advance in the capital of the country, aimed at a particular day and time.

The bench reserved its verdict after hearing arguments of solicitor general Tushar Mehta for the police and counsel of the accused persons.

"If you are doing something against your nation, then you better be in jail till you are acquitted or convicted. There was a riot in the capital of the country where 100 police personnel and 41 other public persons were injured and one police personnel lost his life," Mehta claimed.

This was in connection with the pleas of Imam, Khalid, Mohd Saleem Khan, Shifa Ur Rehman, Athar Khan, Meeran Haider, Abdul Khalid Saifi and Gulfisha Fatima.

The hearing on the bail plea of accused Shadab Ahmed would continue on Thursday, 10 July.

Mehta contested the accuseds’ arguments of a long period of jail time, saying only long incarceration was no grounds for giving bail.

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He called Delhi Police's probe in the conspiracy case as one of the finest investigations, where to satisfy the conscience of the court, the prosecution recorded 58 statements under Section 164 of the CrPC before the magistrate.

"It is not just a case of bail in any other regular riot cases. We are dealing with a well-orchestrated, well thought-of and well-organised criminal conspiracy which starts in the capital of the country aiming at a particular day and time," he said.

Mehta continued, "One of their intentions was to globally defame our nation by choosing a particular day for rioting and arson. I request this court not to treat this as any other ordinary riot case in the country."

He urged the court to be mindful of the gravity of the offence and the intention behind the riots.

"The purpose is to show that generally in the history of our country, we have seen that riots are usually spontaneous, for something completely unforeseen, and people in general suddenly start participating in riot because of some general provocation," he added.

To achieve their goals, Mehta said, Imam and Khalid "broke the secular fabric of JNU" and created a communal WhatsApp group, namely, "Muslim students of JNU". He said a movement of students does not start with a communal group coming into existence.

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"Here this is a case where riots were pre-planned, well-orchestrated, well-organised and with a view to achieve a sinister goal, which by itself is an example that would disqualify them from any discretionary relief of bail from this court," Mehta said.

Referring to Sharjeel Imam's purported speech on Assam, Mehta said, "This is dividing the nation permanently, based on religious lines."

"This is not a riot case where someone can say ‘it is a long incarceration and I should get bail’. This is preparing for dividing the nation, cutting the nation based on a particular religion," he added.

Mehta said, "They (petitioners) showed a narrative that intellectuals are in jail. Their intention was to divide the nation on religious lines. This is not a spontaneous riot… The intention was to cause national embarrassment at a global level. February 24, 2020 was the date when the US president was to visit. Sharjeel Imam delivers a speech four weeks before this, clearly indicating the timeline for execution of conspiracy. He says we have four weeks..."

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He added, "He (Imam) was referring to the potential date being declared when the US President would come. Action starts on 23 January 2020. There was a clear unambiguous intention of putting the entire nation to shame by doing something in the national capital where the president of one of the countries was to visit our country."

The intention, Mehta said, was for the global media to take note and the country to get "defamed and ashamed".

Mehta maintained that all the accused were acting in concert and they were in touch with each other.

Imam's counsel previously argued he was "completely disconnected" with the place, time and co-accused persons, including Khalid. Imam's speeches and WhatsApp chats never called for any unrest, he argued.

The accused were booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and provisions of IPC for allegedly being the "masterminds" of the February 2020 riots, which left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.

Violence erupted during the CAA and NRC protests.

Five years since Delhi riots, justice still a distant dream