New Delhi, February 08, 2023 (PPI-OT):The Delhi Police on Tuesday moved the High Court against the Saket court’s order dated February 4, discharging former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student and activist Sharjeel Imam, Asif Iqbal Tanha and nine others in a case related to the incidents of violence at Jamia Millia Islamia in December 2019. The police sought an urgent hearing from the High Court today. While discharging, Additional Sessions Judge of Saket Court Complex, Arul Verma had said that the police were unable to apprehend the actual perpetrators behind the commission of the offence, but surely managed to rope in the above-mentioned accused as ‘scapegoats’.
The violence had erupted after a clash between the police and people protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in December 2019. Judge Verma had said that the protesters were surely there in large numbers and it cannot be denied that some anti-social elements within the crowd created an environment of disruption. However, the moot question remains as to whether the accused persons herein were even prima facie complicit in taking part in that mayhem, Verma had asked.
“The answer is an unequivocal ‘no’. Marshalling the facts as brought forth from a perusal of the charge sheet and three supplementary charge sheets, this court cannot but arrive at the conclusion that the police were unable to apprehend the actual perpetrators behind the commission of the offence, but surely managed to rope in the persons herein as scapegoats,” he had said.
A second supplementary charge sheet was filed before the court against 11 other accused persons, namely Sharjeel Imam, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Mohammad Qasim, Mahmood Anwar, Shahzar Raza Khan, Mohd Abuzar, Mohd Shoaib, Umair Ahmad, Bilal Nadeem, Chanda Yadav and Safoora Zargar, who have been discharged in the matter. It is to mention here that the violence had erupted after Hindutva members attacked the protesters while police acted as a mute spectator.
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