'Dissent has to be encouraged, not stifled': Delhi court discharges Sharjeel Imam, 10 others in 2019 Jamia Nagar violence case

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 4

A Delhi court on Saturday discharged 11 accused, including student anti-CAA 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 charge sheet and three supplementary charge sheets, this court cannot but arrive at the conclusion that the police were unable to apprehend the actual perpetrators behind the commission of the offence, but surely managed to rope the 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 the riots by delivering a provocative speech at the Jamia Milia University on December 13, 2019, Imam would remain in jail as he was an accused in the 2020 northeast Delhi riots conspiracy case. Noting that dissent is an extension of the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression, subject to reasonable restrictions, the ASJ said investigative agencies need to discern the difference between dissent, which has to be given space, and insurrection that should be quelled.

The court said the investigative agencies needed to discern the difference between dissent and insurrection. “The latter has to be quelled indisputably. However, the former has to be given space, a forum, for dissent is perhaps reflective of something which pricks a citizen’s conscience,” it said, adding dissent has 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 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.

The court faulted the police for failing to produce any WhatsApp chats, SMS or other proof of the accused interacting with each other and criticised them for “arbitrarily” choosing to array some people from the crowd as accused and police witnesses, saying this “cherry-picking” by the police was detrimental to the precept of fairness. —with PTI inputs