HC allows urgent listing of plea challenging order discharging Sharjeel Imam

The Delhi High Court on Friday allowed urgent listing of a plea by the city police challenging a trial courts order discharging 11 people including student activists Sharjeel Imam and Asif Iqbal Tanha in the 2019 Jamia Nagar violence caseThe plea was mentioned by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta before a bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad which allowed it to be listed for hearing on February 13The law officer said the court registry has raised certain objections in the petitionThe petition by police was filed on February 7 challenging the trial courts February 4 order discharging 11 persons holding that they were made scapegoats by police and that dissent has to be encouraged not stifledThe trial court however ordered framing of charges against one of the accused Mohammad IlyasAn FIR was lodged in connection with the violence that erupted after a clash between police and people protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act CAA in the Jamia Nagar area here in December 2019Also Read NSE phone tapping Delhi HC grants bail to Chitra Ramkrishna in money laundering caseImam was accused of instigating the riots by delivering a provocative speech at the Jamia Milia University on December 13 2019 He will continue to remain in jail as he is an accused in the larger conspiracy case of the 2020 northeast Delhi riotsThe trial court had said there were admittedly scores of protesters at the site and some antisocial elements within the crowd could have created an environment of disruption and havocHowever the moot question remains whether the accused persons herein were even prima facie complicit in taking part in that mayhem The answer is an unequivocal no it had addedNoting that the accused were merely present at the protest site and there was no incriminating evidence against them the trial court had said dissent is an extension of the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression subject to reasonable restrictionsIt had said investigative agencies need to discern the difference between dissent which has to be given space and insurrection that should be quelledIt had also faulted the police for failing to produce any WhatsApp chats SMS or other proof of the accused interacting with each other and criticised it for arbitrarily choosing to array some people from the crowd as accused and police witnesses saying this cherrypicking by the police is detrimental to the precept of fairnessThe Jamia Nagar police station had filed the charge sheet against Imam Asif Iqbal Tanha Safoora Zargar Mohammad Qasim Mahmood Anwar Shahzar Raza Khan Mohammad Abuzar Mohammad Shoaib Umair Ahmad Bilal Nadeem Chanda Yadav and Mohammad IlyasThe charge sheet was filed under various sections of the Indian Penal Code IPC including 148 rioting armed with a deadly weapon 186 obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions 353 assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty 308 attempt to commit culpable homicide 435 mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to cause damage 323 voluntarily causing hurt 341 wrongful restraint and 120B criminal conspiracyThe charge sheet also included provisions of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property ActThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever