Delhi Police get 60 days to finish probe in Delhi riots case
NEW DELHI: While the Delhi Police sought an extension till September 17 to complete its investigation into a case related to the alleged conspiracy behind the North East Delhi riots, a
local court here granted the law enforcement agency another 60 days to finish the probe where Congress municipal council
lor Ishrat Jahan, activist Khalid Saifi, student activists Safoora Zargar, Devangana Kalita, Natasha Narwal, Umar Khalid and AAP councillor Tahir Hussain and other prominent anti-caa activists have been charged with the stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
The court extended the time for probe in the case after it was told that Khalid had allegedly travelled outside India and met persons including fugitive Zakir Naik, controversial Islamic preacher, in order to get funds for spreading his agenda and the investigation regarding this required more time.
The prosecutor alleged that Ishrat Jahan has got illegal funds through an unaccounted channel and Khalid Saifi got funds from Popular Front of India (PFI) as well as from outside India.
Khalid Saifi was a member of United Against Hate, a citizens’ campaign launched in 2017 to protest against series of lynching in the country and was allegedly involved in the violent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in which financial support was provided by the PFI, formed in 2006 in Kerala as a successor to the National Democratic Front (NDF). Advocate Bhavook Chauhan, appearing for Khalid, opposed the application saying it was legally not maintainable. Chauhan further claimed the investigating officer was acting very casually and mechanically and extension of time viewed against such casual approach would lead to unjustified infringement of fundamental right of the accused, he claimed.
Advocate Lalit Valecha, appearing for Jahan, argued that she has been fully cooperating with the investigating agency and already revealed the questioned source of funds to the IO.
A large number of culturally prominent people had recently released a statement calling the arrest and detention of activists like Zargar, Kalita, Umar Khalid and others as “political detention”. In fact, Zargar, who is in the third trimester of her pregnancy, has been denied bail thrice and both the Human Rights Watch and the American Bar Association have said that arrests of activists like here were in violation of international law. The HRW also released a statement alleging that the Delhi Police probe is biased.
Jamia Coordination Committee members Meeran Haider, Jamia students Asif Iqbal Tanha, Gulfisha Khatoon, Jamia Alumni Association President Shifa-ur-rehman and Shadab Ahmed, have also been booked under UAPA in the case.
The police had sought extension of time till September 17 for concluding investigation against Jahan and Khalid, under section 43D (2) (b) of the antiterror law.