When intellectuals become terrorists, they become more dangerous than those working on the ground, the Delhi Police told the Supreme Court on Thursday as it vehemently opposed the bail pleas of activists Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and others in the February 2020 riots case, as reported by PTI.
Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider and Rehman have been charged under the stringent Anti-Terrorism Act UAPA along with relevant sections of the erstwhile IPC for allegedly masterminding the 2020 Delhi riots that left 53 dead and over 700 injured.
Appearing for the Delhi Police, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju said before Justices Aravind Kumar and NV Anjaria that the delay in the trial is attributable to the accused and they cannot take advantage of it.
According to LiveLaw, the Delhi Police said: “I must emphasize that intellectuals, when they lead and become terrorists, become more dangerous than those who work on the ground. They are real prey and thanks to state support – state funding and subsidies, they become doctors and activists – these types of activists are dangerous. There is a story that he is an intellectual when the bail applications were filed and the white economic change was filed. strangulation etc.”
Police said it has now become a trend for doctors and engineers to be involved in anti-national activities.
Raju showed videos of an imam making “inflammatory speeches” against the Citizenship Amendment Act in the Supreme Court.
“A member of this conspiracy, Sharjeel, says it’s harmless. He says it should be a violent protest and you should separate Assam from India. He said you should be able to take lathi etc. and it’s used by the police when the crowd gets a bit violent. He says it’s a four-country problem, Nepal, Bangladesh, etc. He’s also targeting chicken necks, if it succeeds, in Arunachal6 Assam says that would only need that power for 16 km,” Raju added, as reported by LiveLaw.
The videos showed the imam delivering speeches in Chakhand, Jamia, Aligarh and Asansol in 2019 and 2020 before the February 2020 riots in Delhi.
Pointing out that Imam is an engineering graduate, the defense counsel said, “Nowadays there is a trend that doctors, engineers are not doing their profession but are involved in anti-national activities.”
Raju added, “It is not a simple protest. These are violent protests. There is talk of blockades.”
Read also | ‘Can’t hear it forever’: HC raps Delhi Police, riots, accused on bail
At this point, Justice Kumar asked if the speeches were part of the charge sheet, to which Raju replied in the affirmative.
The ASG said the CAA protests were timed with US President Donald Trump’s visit to India to get international media coverage.
Read also | Delhi HC denies bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in 2020 riots case
“The ultimate intention is to change the regime. The CAA protests were a herring, the real purpose was to change the regime, create economic deprivation and create chaos in the entire country. The riots were deliberately done to coincide with the visit of US President Donald Trump. These so-called intellectuals are more dangerous than ground-level terrorists,” Raju said.
The violence erupted amid protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
In its strong opposition to the activists’ bail pleas, Delhi argued that the riots were not spontaneous but a “carefully orchestrated, pre-planned and well-executed” attack on national sovereignty.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Delhi Police, said the intention was to create joint divisions and the incidents went far beyond a mere protest against the CAA.
(This is a developing story, more details to come)
