Updated: September 13, 2020 5:50:32 am
(Clockwise from above) Yogendra Yadav, Jayati Ghosh, Apoorvanand, Rahul Roy, and Sitaram Yechury.
Citing “disclosure” statements to assert that the protests against the CAA / NRC in Delhi were carried out to “smear” the image of the government, the Delhi police have appointed CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury the leader of Swaraj Abhiyan, Yogendra Yadav, to economist Jayati Ghosh, University of Delhi professor and activist Apoorvanand, and documentary filmmaker Rahul Roy in a supplemental charge sheet filed in connection with their investigation into the northeast Delhi riots in February.
The original charge sheet, filed in a Karkardooma court by the Crime Branch, was against members of Pinjra Tod Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal and Gulfisha Fathima of Jamia Millia Islamia in connection with the violence in Jafrabad, where it took place. an anti-CAA sit-in before the riots. it started. The three also face charges under the Unlawful Activity (Prevention) Act in a case brought by the Delhi Police Special Cell.
In the supplemental charge sheet, the police cited “disclosure” statements from Narwal and Kalita and claimed that both received instructions from Ghosh, Apoorvanand and Roy to protest in different parts of Delhi against the CAA and the NRC.
Yechury and Yadav, police said, were named in Gulfisha’s disclosure statement, indicating that they participated in anti-CAA demonstrations to “provoke and mobilize” crowds.
Kalita and Narwal’s disclosure statements are nearly identical, starting with the mention of plotting a conspiracy in December when Ghosh, Apoorvanand and Roy allegedly “explained” to them that “we have to protest against CAA / NRC so we can go to any lengths. “; Umar Khalid’s “CAA / NRC Protest Tips”; and even a spelling mistake that mentions “massage” instead of message.
Narwal and Kalita declined to sign the disclosure statements, the charge sheet read.
The statements of the two members of Pinjra Tod, the police said, indicated: “In December, after passing the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act), Jaidi (sic) Ghosh, Professor Apurva Nand (sic), Rahul Roy had explained that we have to protest against CAA / NRC so that we can go to any lengths due to which we can through the Government, and Umar Khalid had also given some tips to make a protest against CAA / NRC. Following the instructions of these people, Umar Khalid’s United Against Hate Group and JCC (Jamia Coordination Committee) and members of our Pinjdra (sic) Tod together started protesting in different parts of Delhi. “
“On December 20, 2019, together with other members of the Pinjda Tod Group I participated in the protest called by Chander Shekhar ‘Rawan’ (sic) in Darya Ganj. When the police tried to stop the movement towards Jantar Mantar, we instigated the protesters to be violent so … several people were injured ”.
Both statements, police said, stated that “Professor Apurva Nand” told them that “JCC is going to start protesting in 20-25 places in Delhi”, and “as instructed by Umar Khalid and others, we chose the local girl northeast of Delhi. ” namely, Gulfisha alias Gul, and she, along with Taslim and others, had taken responsibility for gathering the crowd for the protest against CAA / NRC. We also told them that they would call women and children for blocking the road. Due to these protests, we will be able to smear the government’s image that the government is against the Muslim community. “
The statements, police said, indicated that it was on the instructions of PFI, JCC and the aforementioned individuals that members of Pinjra Tod, along with several others, “began protesting at the Old Seelampur bus stop.” The statements, police said, also mentioned that former MLA Mateen Ahmed and AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan visited the area.
“We use our educational qualification to mislead ordinary Muslim people that we know about the CAA / NRC and it is against Muslims,” their remarks said.
Gulfisha’s statement, according to police, said he met with Narwal and Kalita during protests against the CAA in Shaheen Bagh, Jantar Mantar and ITO. She said that “the JCC leaders, Devangana of Pinjda Tod, Natasha Narwal, told her that we have to strongly oppose CAA / NRC and go as far as possible.” Police said they were able to “uproot and bring two communities face to face, under the directives of Natasha and Devangana Kalita and Umar Khalid and others, the responsibility of protesting in northeast Delhi, people who had women and children, they were removed from their homes on the highways ”.
Claiming that Kalita and Narwal were presented as JNU scholars so that the less literate could be ‘fooled’, Gulfisha’s statement, according to police, read: ‘Great leaders and lawyers began to arrive to provoke and mobilize this crowd. , including Omar (sic) Khalid, Chander Sekhar Ravan (sic), Yogendar Yadav, Sitaram Yechury and lawyer Mahmood Pracha, Chaudhary Matin (Mateen), etc. Pracha said that sitting in a demonstration is his democratic right and the rest of the leaders filled the feeling of discontent in the community by calling the CAA / NRC anti-Muslim. “
Based on Gulfisha’s statement, police said the speeches made in the days leading up to US President Donald Trump’s visit to India were made to tarnish the country’s image.
The charge sheet indicated that because of the defendants’ provocative statements, people from “other communities” became angry and began to protest against the roadblocks.
The anti-CAA Jafrabad sit-in had sparked a pro-CAA demonstration by the BJP’s Kapil Mishra in the area. He had warned the police that they would take to the streets if the anti-CAA protesters were not withdrawn. A day later, riots broke out.
According to the Gulfisha statement, on February 24, when the police dispersed both sides who met face to face, “people began to arrive with all weapons, including firearms.” In her statement, according to the police, she said that “our plan was softened in the riots in northeast Delhi” when on February 25, a crowd of around 10-12,000 people armed with weapons appeared at the Jafrabad metro station. She claimed that the women arrived armed with chili powder and attempted to march towards Maujpur, where pro-CAA protesters had gathered. When arrested by police, the crowd threw stones even as the defendants protected themselves from the cameras and instigated the mob, according to the statement.
Delhi Police Spokesman Anil Mittal in an official statement said: “It is worth mentioning that the disclosure statement has been truthfully taped as narrated by the accused person. A person is not prosecuted as a defendant solely on the basis of the disclosure statement. However, it is only on the existence of sufficient corroborating evidence that further legal action is taken. The matter is currently sub judice. “
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