Shaheen Bagh Was No Nani, Dadi Protest, But Plan To Incite Violence: Delhi Police To HC - News18

Shaheen Bagh Was No Nani, Dadi Protest, But Plan To Incite Violence: Delhi Police To HC - News18

The Delhi Police on Wednesday told Delhi High Court that the Shaheen Bagh protest was not a “nani, dadi protest, but a facade" and that the actual plan was to incite “mass scale violence." The police told court that the protest at Shaheen Bagh that began in December 2019 and ended in March 2020, was not organic, but an artificial one, planned and executed by Sharjeel Imam and Asif Mujtaba.

“The messages of 17.02.2020 on DPSG WhatsApp group unequivocally point at the incitement to violence wherein one Owais Sultan Khan clearly says ‘Your Proposal to Incite violence’ followed by another message ‘Itnaa samjh lo sirf ki violence nahin karne denge tumhe aur tumhare doston ko, bhai‘ (Better understand that we won’t let you or your friends incite violence). Thus, the message is loud and clear to reflect that it was not only a proposal to incite violence, rather they were themselves getting into violence along with their friends i.e., the conspirators and their friends," the police told High Court.

The police said that the protest sites were decided as part of a planned conspiracy. “More particularly, it is relevant to point out that the hype was created in relation to the Shaheen Bagh protest being referred to as ‘Dadi Nani protest’. The investigation has brought on record sufficient evidence which indicates that these protest sites were not organic in nature," the police said.

Police said that Sharjeel Imam’s chat with his brother Muzammil Imam “clearly demonstrate" that the second protest were “masterminded by Sharjeel Imam and Asif Mujtaba."

The police also told court that the Shaheen Bagh protest lacked local support and therefore, people were brought in from other areas. Citing Sharjeel Imam’s WhatsApp chat with Afreen Fatima on December 19, 2019, the police told court that the local colony residents were opposing the sit-ins and Sharjeel Imam said he would call people from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

The Delhi Police also gave a list of reasons to the court on why the first phase of protests in 2019 failed and there was no violence.

The police said that during the first phase of protests, there was inadequate local mobilisation and to address this shortcoming, immediately after this, JACT, a WhatsApp group, was formed whose role was only to create “awareness" and was specifically prohibited from making any calls for any activity.

“Over the period of time (22/Dec/2019 to 22/Feb/2020), JACT covered all places where eventually all protest sites mushroomed and JACT claimed credit for establishing the protest sites in its FB post on 20/Feb/2020," Delhi Police said.

The police told court there was an “overly communal tag" attached to whole protest facade which is reflected from the fact that the initiation was done through “Muslim Students of JNU" and thereafter followed by aligning with Jamia Milia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University.

“There are clear messages in MSJ where Sharjeel Imam says not to do over secularisation and maintain Muslim identity. In his speeches also, Sharjeel Imam clearly says that get Hindus to participate but on ‘our own terms’," police said.

The police told court that Sharjeel Imam later suggested in the chat to put a stall of Shashi Tharoor’s book “Why I am Hindu" to give secular colour to the protest site at Shaheen Bagh.

Subsequently, Sharjeel Imam is shown to have exited from the Shaheen Bagh protest site but he continued to operate as per original mandate which is established from the fact that he was supporting protest sites by way of writing pamphlets, sent speakers to sites and support the sites while remaining in background, the police added.

Experience counts and it is for this reason that after the first phase riots, deep penetration and live reporting mechanism was developed by way of “Spot Handlers"; “Remote Supervisor" and “Leaders from outside", the police said.

During the first phase of riots, there was no visible coordination, which was strongly developed in the second phase, the police said.

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The police told court how the first phase of protests witnessed strong and effective police action as a result of which “multiple rioters were named in the FIRs registered in first phase riots and eventually booked for rioting." “The withdrawal of Sunder Nagri from meeting of 16/17 Feb and subsequent failure to get Sunder Nagri into violence establishes this fact," the police told court.