Anti-CAA protests aimed at regime change: Cops oppose bail pleas in SC

Alleging that 2020 Delhi riots were the result of a conspiracy involving the accused, including Shifa Ur Rahman, Meeran Haider and others, the Delhi Police on Friday told the Supreme Court that the protests against the CAA here were aimed at regime change like Bangladesh and Nepal.

“All those who went for dharna carried sticks and acid bottles. They wanted regime change like the shift witnessed in Bangladesh and Nepal. They have scant regard for the Constitution,” Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, representing the Delhi Police, told a Bench of Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice NV Anjaria.

Opposing the bail pleas of accused Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Meeran Haider, Gulfisha Fatima, Shifa Ur Rehman anad Md Saleem Khan, Raju alleged that the accused financed the violence.

Citing statements of a witness, the ASG alleged that the conspirators planned violence, organised chakka jams to disrupt and "choke Assam out of India," and further mobilised rioters armed with sticks who also indulged in heavy stone-pelting.

"This is a clear case where UAPA (Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967) offences are attracted… conspiracy to commit terrorist acts, murder, etc. is made out. It was not a simple dharna for CAA (Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019), it was for regime change,” the ASG told the Bench which will further hear the matter on November 24.

Raju told the Bench that “53 people, including an IB officer, were killed, more than 530 people were injured… There was a lot of violence…Petrol bombs were used, stones were pelted, sticks, acid like chemicals were used. Stones were pelted on a small contingent of policemen… Large-scale rioting occurred after the street CCTVs were destroyed.”

In a veiled reference to alleged involvement of several doctors in the recent terror attack near Red Fort in the national capital which claimed 13 lives, Raju had on Thursday submitted that when intellectuals become terrorists, they become more dangerous than those working on the ground.

“Now the trend has become that doctors, engineers, and intellectuals are not doing their profession but engaging in anti-national activities. When intellectuals become terrorists, they become more dangerous than those ground-level terrorists," he had said, referring to Imam -- who is an engineer.

Terming the 2020 Delhi riots as an "orchestrated, pre-planned, and well-designed" attack on the sovereignty of India, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had on Tuesday vehemently opposed the bail pleas of the accused persons, saying the riots were not something spontaneous.

Alleging a "regime change operation" under the guise of "peaceful protest", the Delhi Police had on October 30 alleged that the accused conspired to strike at the sovereignty and integrity of the country by a "regime change operation" executed under the guise of "peaceful protest".

The accused have challenged the Delhi High Court’s September 2 order that denied them bail, noting that "conspiratorial" violence under the garb of demonstrations or protests by citizens couldn't be allowed.

They are facing charges of criminal conspiracy, sedition, promoting enmity between various groups, making statements conducing to public mischief under the IPC and Section 13 of the UAPA, 1967 for allegedly questioning the sovereignty, unity, or territorial integrity of India and causing disaffection against it.

Besides the UAPA, the accused were also booked under certain provisions of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly being the “masterminds” of the "larger conspiracy" behind the February 2020 Delhi riots during the visit of the then US President Donald Trump that claimed 53 lives and left more than 700 injured. The violence had erupted during the protests against CAA and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).