2020 Delhi riots had Assam connection: ASG to top court

NEW DELHI: The protests against the CAA in the national capital were aimed at regime change like Bangladesh and Nepal, the Delhi Police told the Supreme Court on Friday while opposing bail plea of activists Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and others in the February 2020 Delhi riots case. The conspirators Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid and others planned violence, organised chakka jams to disrupt and choke Assam out of India, and further mobilised rioters armed with sticks, who engaged in heavy stone-pelting, the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S V Raju, for the Delhi police, told the Supreme Courts two-judge bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria. Delhi riots are the result of a conspiracy involving several accused, including Tahir Hussain, Shifa Ur Rahman, Meeran Haider, Ishrat Jahan and Khalid Saifi, he said. Raju further alleged that the accused were illegally involved in financing the 2020 Delhi riots violence and thereby their bail plea should be rejected. The Bench adjourned the matter, noting that rejoinder arguments will be heard on November 24. Raju said that large-scale rioting occurred after the street CCTVS were destroyed. A police constable was killed and other police personnel were injured in the attack following a large-scale mobilisation. In the ensuing riots, an Intelligence Bureau officer was killed, he added. Raju further submitted to the court that these were the people with scant regard for the Constitution and that Article 21 of the Constitution gets quoted only for bail. Rioters used weapons to stones to garbage. Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam were among those named in the primary chargesheets filed in 2020 which included offences under UAPA, Arms Act and the erstwhile IPC, he stated. When intellectuals become terrorists, they become more dangerous than those working on the ground, the Delhi Police had argued on Thursday as it vehemently opposed the bail pleas of activists Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and others in the February 2020 riots case. It had become a trend now for doctors and engineers to engage in anti-national activities, the Delhi Police said. The Delhi High Court, which had rejected those accuseds bail plea, included Mohd Saleem Khan, Shifa Ur Rehman, Athar Khan, Meeran Haider, Abdul Khalid Saifi, Gulfisha Fatima, Shadab Ahmed, Sharjeel Imam and Umar Khalid. These accused have moved the top court against the Delhi High Courts judgment delivered on September 2, dismissing their bail applications. A division bench of the HC comprising Justices Naveen Chawla and Shalinder Kaur had pronounced the judgment. The riots took place in February 2020, following clashes over the then-proposed CAA. As per the Delhi Police, the riots caused the death of 53 persons and injured hundreds.