New Delhi, (Samajweekly) The prosecution opposing former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Umar Khalid’s bail plea in the northeast Delhi riots case has submitted that the protest was committed in a planned way and the poor people were used as ‘cannon fodder’.
The anti-CAA protests were held in Muslim-dominated areas in the national capital, and the poor people were used cannon fodder, the prosecution argued.
Delhi Police has registered a case against Khalid and several others under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and other provisions of the law, and they are accused of being the “masterminds” of the riots which had left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.
Police had accused Khalid of organising a conspiracy meeting and supervising the site of protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
The prosecution has compared the riots with the 9/11 attack by saying as just before 9/11 happened when all the people were involved, they reached a particular place and took training, and a month before that, they moved to their respective positions. That is what is relevant in this case also.
The prosecution alleged that the issue regarding the 2020 protests was not CAA or NRC but to embarrass the government and take such steps that it gets highlighted in “International Media”.
The prosecution requested the Additional Sessions, Judge Amitabh Rawat, for dismissing the bail application of Khalid by submitting that the poor people were used as cannon fodder in this case.
Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad had earlier argued that the 25 protest sites were close to local mosques but were purposefully given ‘secular names’, by pointing out the Shreeram colony protest site which is Noorani Masjid protest.
Sadar Bazar’s protest site is originally Shahi Idgaah. The Shastri Park protest site was Wahid Jama Masjid. Gandhi Park’s protest site was actually Jamila Masjid.
