NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Saturday discharged 11 accused, including anti-CAA student activists Sharjeel Imam and Asif Iqbal Tanha, in the 2019 Jamia Nagar violence case, saying they were made “scapegoats” by the police.
“Marshalling the facts as brought forth from a perusal of the chargesheet and three supplementary chargesheets, this court cannot but arrive at the conclusion that the police were unable to apprehend the actual perpetrators, but surely managed to make these persons herein as scapegoats,” Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Arul Varma said.
The ASJ, however, ordered framing of charges against Mohammad Ilyas, one of the accused. Accused of instigating riots by delivering a provocative speech at Jamia Millia Islamia on December 13, 2019, Imam will continue to remain in jail as he is an accused in the 2020 northeast Delhi riots conspiracy case.
Noting that dissent was an extension of the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression, subject to reasonable restrictions, the Additional Sessions Judge said investigative agencies needed to discern between dissent, which has to be given space, and insurrection that should be quelled.
It said dissent had to be encouraged and not stifled, with the condition that it should be absolutely peaceful, without degenerating into violence.
The accused were merely present at the protest site and there was no incriminating evidence against them, the court said, adding that the legal proceedings against the 11 accused were initiated in a “perfunctory and cavalier fashion” and “allowing them to undergo the rigmarole of a long-drawn trial does not augur well for the criminal justice system of the country”.
“Furthermore, such police action is detrimental to the liberty of citizens who choose to exercise their fundamental right to peacefully assemble and protest. The liberty of the protesting citizens should not have been lightly interfered with,” it said.