A year has passed since New Delhi witnessed communal violence in its North East region, leading to the death of more than 50 people. In the past year, Delhi Police has arrested 1,825 people in connection to the violence and has accused many students and activists involved in the protests against CAA as the “conspirators” behind the violence. Questions have been raised on the credibility of the investigation carried out by the Delhi Police.
The following are two extracts from a report published by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in November 2020, that comprehensively analyse the context and events as they developed, as well as the aftermath of the violence. The report is based on “CPI(M)’s detailed interaction with the victims, local people belonging to different communities in the North East area of Delhi, and the relief work it has done in the area.”
The Conspiracy Behind the ‘Conspiracy’
Even before the embers of the communal fires lit in North East Delhi could subside, the contours of the conspiracy hatched in the corridors of power started becoming clear. As early as March 6, even before any investigation into the violence could begin, the wheels of injustice started moving, engineered by the Home Ministry.
Thus it was that on March 6, 2020, an inspector with the Narcotics Cell of the Crime Branch filed a complaint to the Crime Branch in which he claimed that an (unnamed) mukhbir khas or police informer had told him that ‘the communal violence in Delhi happened because of a pre-planned conspiracy which was hatched by Umar Khalid, and his associates from various organisations.’ The obvious question is: what has the narcotics cell got to do with such issues? The so-called informer said that ‘conspiracy involved provoking and instigating people to protest against the CAA and take to the streets during US President Trump’s visit to India on 24– 25 February.’ The informer’s complaint says, ‘People were directed to collect firearms, bombs, acid bottles and stones, and on 24 February crowds of women and children took to the streets, blocked roads and started the violence.’ On the basis of this ‘complaint,’ an FIR (No.59/2020) was filed with ‘Police Station Crime Branch’. This FIR was the seed from which the whole conspiracy theory against the anti-CAA activists was later built up, ultimately leading to the filing of a chargesheet in the court of a special judge on 17 September. It named 15 persons; three others, named as suspects, were arrested and released on bail. Subsequently, two more have been arrested. A supplementary chargesheet is expected. All 17 accused are in judicial custody at the time of writing, except one, who is out on bail. They have been charged with a raft of serious crimes including rioting, murder, causing injuries, conspiracy, etc. under IPC and other crimes under the Arms Act, etc. In addition, charges of carrying out unlawful acts, terrorist acts, raising funds for terrorist acts and conspiracy have been added by invoking the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Those arrested under UAPA charged with inciting the ‘riots’:
- Meeran Haider, Safoora Zagar, Shifa-ur-Rehman, Asif Iqbal Tanha (Jamia Milia Islamia)
- Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita (Pinjra Tod)
- Ishrat Jahan (former Congress councillor)
- Tahir Hussein (suspended AAP councillor)
- Khalid Saifi (United against Hate Campaign)
- Umar Khalid (JNU, United against Hate)
- Sharjeel Imam (MSJ- Muslim Students JNU)
- Gulfisha Fatima Khatoon (MBA student, anti-CAA protester)
- Tasleem Ahmed, Saleem Malik, Md Saleem Khan, Athar Khan, Shadab
- Ahmed (all locals from NE Delhi)
[….]
The ‘Conspiracy’
The summary of the ‘conspiracy’ that is ‘revealed’ is as follows : ‘that the accused, with the help of various organisations like the Jamia Coordination Committee, Pinjara Tod (a women students’ group), AAJMI (Alumni Association of Jamia) and others, and using the public influence of some of the accused like Tahir Hussain (former AAP corporator), Ishrat Jehan (former Congress corporator), coordinated and instigated the protests against CAA/ NRC and subsequently, escalated these dharnas into “chakka jams” (road blockage) and finally during Trump’s visit, they used the prepared arms and ammunition, and the mobilised people (mostly of the minority community) to launch an all round attack on Hindus, in order to create large scale violence that would attract international attention.’
Some remarkable features of this ‘conspiracy’ theory are evident
- Linking the broad-based movement against CAA/NRC to the communal violence
This is a wild leap of the imagination, which the Delhi Police had to make because the Home Minister had already outlined it in Parliament, as mentioned above. The movement undoubtedly mobilised a large number of people from the Muslim community, but it was definitely not confined to them. Large numbers of people from other communities were also part of the protests. And, the movement was for the defence of the Constitution, its secular principles, the rule of law, including equality before law. To project this movement as being anti-Hindu or to imagine that its objectives would be met by inciting communal violence is monumentally erroneous. Yet, the police theory enshrined in the chargesheet does precisely that, using their ‘anonymous witnesses’ to say so, putting the same words in the mouths of all accused in their ‘disclosure statements’, and even in testimonies of police personnel.
In the process, in the UAPA chargesheet ‘disclosure statements’ several political leaders including Brinda Karat (CPI-M), Salman Khursheed (Congress), Yogendra Yadav (Swarajya Party), Kavita Krishnan (CPI-ML), Prashant Bhushan (eminent lawyer and activist), Rahul Roy (eminent film maker) and others are mentioned as addressing the participants in dharnas or attending solidarity meetings. In another chargesheet, Sitaram Yechury (General Secretary, CPI-M), and others have been identified as leaders who ‘made provocative speeches’ at the anti-CAA protest in Seelampur in the ‘disclosure statement.’
A solidarity group on WhatsApp called the ‘Delhi Protest Solidarity Group’ (DPSG), has been branded a part of the ‘conspiracy’ although its members were a wide range of people including from CPI(M) and CITU, and other people’s organisations. The group was used to inform people about various protests and there was nothing clandestine or conspiratorial, leave aside criminal about it. The Mahila Ekta Yatra consisting of 30 women’s organisations as well as its leaders including Maimoona Mollah (AIDWA), Annie Raja (NFIW) have been named. Participation in a movement is a democratic right guaranteed by the Constitution and to link such participation to communal violence is to criminalise solidarity and dissent. It flows from the authoritarian thinking of the Modi government that any protest against the government is by definition an anti-national or criminal activity.
- Linking fund collection for the anti-CAA movement to ‘financing terror’
This is another part of the police theory, where they allege that Rs.1.62 crore were funnelled into organising and running dharnas, and that this a criminal act. First of all the evidence for this is not established; it is merely a trumped-up charge. As every person who has participated in public events knows (including the Sangh Parivar/BJP themselves) that all public activity involves expenditure. For that, various persons are tapped. There is nothing wrong in collecting money from supporters to organise public events. If any money is collected and spent for, say, procuring arms or harmful illegal material, then evidence has to be offered for that.
If substantiated, the guilty can be charged. But to present the mere fact of collection of money by public figures as criminal activity is a bogus charge that amounts to nothing.
- Complete omission of BJP hate speeches
The conspiracy chargesheet argues that the whole chain of events begins back in December 2019 after the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was passed. Taking the same cue, it should be the duty of any impartial investigation to look at other events in Delhi which could have contributed to communal polarisation and conspiracies to foster violence. Delhi Police has not bothered to do so. There were several instances of various BJP leaders making grossly provocative and inflammatory statements in public during the election campaign for Delhi Assembly elections which were held on 8 February (India Today, January 30, 2020). Some of the most well-known ones have been mentioned in this report.
In the conspiracy chargesheet filed by the police in September, it is recorded that Kapil Mishra denied making any provocative speech and claimed that he was only talking to DCP Surya and telling him that if the streets were not cleared he and his supporters would sit on dharna. Despite the video record, this sanitized version is recorded by the police and nothing has been done about the clear incitement to violence.
Apart from these well-known and well-documented cases, various Hindutva groups had been actively propagating hatred towards Muslims earlier, but with much more gusto during the Delhi election campaign. These and other newly formed groups,
especially on Facebook and WhatsApp, were reported to have served to mobilise Hindus who wanted to create violence in North- East Delhi. A few of them have been documented in some FIRs/ chargesheets filed by Delhi Police in connection with the violence but usually portrayed as defensive groupings, though their violent
intentions are very clear from the records. However, Delhi Police has persisted in putting the whole blame on so-called ‘urban naxals’ and ‘jehadi elements’.
Read the entire report here.
