Police to recommend NSA against local SP worker in Ghaziabad assault case

The Ghaziabad police will be recommending detention of a local Samajwadi Party worker under the National Security Act (NSA) over a case related to the assault on an elderly Muslim man, officials said on Monday.

The worker, Ummaid Pehelwan Idrisi, was arrested from Delhi on June 19 by the Ghaziabad police after an FIR was lodged against him at the Loni Border police station.

Once booked under the stringent NSA, an accused can be detained in jail for a period of one year, subject to review by a high court every three months.

“We are in the process of recommending (to the Uttar Pradesh government) the NSA against him. The formalities would be completed today,” Senior Superintendent of Police Amit Pathak told PTI on Monday.

The FIR, filed on the complaint of a local policeman, alleged that Idrisi had “unnecessarily” made the video — in which Abdul Samad Saifi claimed attack by some young men who also chopped off his beard and forced him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ — with an intention to “create social disharmony” and shared it through his Facebook account.

Idrisi was booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 153A (promoting enmity between groups on ground of religion, class etc), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious belief), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 505 (public mischief).

A separate FIR was lodged against him on June 17 in adjoining Bulandshahr district, the native place of Saifi, that charged him and around 100 others with violation of the COVID-19 norms by holding a public gathering in connection with the attack on Saifi on June 16, the officials said.

The police maintain that Saifi was attacked on June 5 over personal enmity and the episode was given a communal colour by some people. So far, around a dozen accused in the assault case have been arrested, the officials said.