Delhi Riots: Jamia Alumni Association President Sent To Police Custody

A Delhi court Monday sent the president of Jamia Millia Islamia Alumni Association, arrested under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in connection with riots in northeast Delhi in February, to 10-day police custody.

The police told the court that Shifa-Ur-Rehman, also a member of Jamia Coordination Committee, was involved in a criminal conspiracy along with former JNU student Umar Khalid.

It said Rehman gave “provocative speeches at various places and appealed to the Muslim minority community gathering to block roads and other other public places during the visit of Donald Trump, USA President, on Feb 24-25 so that a propaganda may be flashed at the in international platform that the Muslim minority community in India are being tortured”.

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Rehman was booked for alleged involvement in the riots and was subsequently arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police on Sunday.

The police produced him before Special Judge Sanjeev Kumar Jain and sought his custodial interrogation for 12 days.

It told the court that Rehman's interrogation was required to unearth the larger conspiracy and find out the names of his other accomplices.

While seeking his custody, the police told the court that Rahman's name popped up after the interrogation of Ishrat Jahan, Khalid Saifi, Meeran Haider, Safora, Gulfisa and Tahir Hussain.

Rehman gave hate speeches that lead to the riots in the month of February 2020 at various protest sites i.e. Jamia, Shaheen Bagh, Seelampur, Khureji, Inderlok & Hauz Rani, the police told the court.

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"We had technical evidence against him which suggests that he incited mobs during the riots. He was also seen in the CCTV footage which was collected from the riot-affected areas. We have checked his call record details and WhatsApp messages and found more evidence which suggests his involvement in the riots," police said.

It further trims the court that the interrogation of the witnesses have revealed that that Rehman received funds from the members of ALUMNI of Jamia Millia Islamia based in Middle East countries and he was co-coordinating the protest sites

Earlier, Jamia Millia Islamia students Meeran Haider and Safoora Zagar were also arrested under the Act for allegedly hatching a conspiracy to incite the communal riots. While Zargar is the media coordinator of Jamia Coordination Committee, Haider is a member of the committee.

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In the FIR, police have claimed that the communal violence was a "premeditated conspiracy" which was allegedly hatched by former JNU student leader Umar Khalid and two others.

Communal violence had broken out in northeast Delhi on February 24 after clashes between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiralled, leaving at least 53 people dead and around 200 injured.