New Delhi : Ahead of Friday’s hearing on the Delhi riots in the Supreme Court, Delhi Police has filed a detailed affidavit in the top court in response to bail applications filed by Umar Khalid Sharjeel Imam, Gulfan Fathima, Meeran Haider in the UAPA case related. The police has once again opposed the bail for Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, citing that the accused deliberately adopted tactics to delay the trial in the case. The 2020 violence was part of an organised “regime change operation, the Delhi Police said in the affidavit filed in the Supreme Court.
The present case not a case of regular protest but pre-meditated orchestrated conspiracy to commit unlawful activities,” the affidavit said. The top court on September 22 had issued notice to the Delhi Police and sought its response. The activists have moved the apex court challenging the Delhi High Court order passed on September 2. Opposing the bail applications filed by the accused, the police said they were deliberately adopting tactics to slow down the trial.
The high court said the Constitution affords citizens the right to protest and carry out demonstrations or agitations, provided they are orderly, peaceful and without arms, and such actions must be within the bounds of law. While the high court said the right to participate in peaceful protests and to make speeches in public meetings was said to have been protected under Article 19(1)(a), and couldn’t be blatantly curtailed, it observed the right was “not absolute” and “subject to reasonable restrictions”.
Khalid, Imam and the rest of the accused persons were booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and provisions of the erstwhile IPC for allegedly being the “masterminds” of the February 2020 riots, which left 53 people dead and over 700 injured. The violence erupted during the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens.
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