Delhi Police tells SC intellectuals turned terrorists more dangerous than ground-level rioters

Delhi Police opposed bail pleas of Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, and others in the 2020 Delhi riots case, calling intellectuals who engage in anti-national activities more dangerous than ground-level rioters, linking protests to orchestrated attempts to destabilize the government

New Delhi: When intellectuals become terrorists, they become more dangerous than those working on the ground, the Delhi police told the Supreme Court on Thursday as it vehemently opposed the bail pleas of activists Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, and others in the February 2020 riots case.

Police said it had become a trend now for doctors and engineers to engage in anti-national activities. Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the Delhi Police, told a bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria that the delay in the trial was attributable to the accused and they could not take advantage of it.

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Raju showed in the top court videos of the Imam giving “inflammatory speeches” against the Citizenship Amendment Act. The videos showed Imam giving speeches at Chakhand, Jamia, Aligarh, and Asansol in 2019 and 2020 before the riots in February 2020 riots in Delhi.

Pointing out that the Imam is an engineering graduate, the advocate said, “Nowadays there is a trend that doctors, engineers are not doing their professions but engaging in anti-national activities.”

Raju added, “It’s not a simple protest. These are violent protests. They are talking about blockades.” At this juncture, Justice Kumar asked if the speeches were part of the chargesheet, to which Raju replied in the affirmative.

The ASG said CAA protests were timed with US President Donald Trump’s visit to India to get international media coverage. “The ultimate intention is regime change. CAA protests were a red herring; the real purpose was regime change, to create economic deprivation and create chaos across the country. The riots were deliberately made to coincide with the visit of US President Donald Trump. These so-called intellectuals are more dangerous than the ground-level terrorists,” Raju said.

Khalid, Imam, Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, and Rehman were booked under the UAPA, the stringent anti-terror law, and provisions of the erstwhile IPC for allegedly being the “masterminds” of the 2020 riots, which left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.

The violence erupted during widespread protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Strongly opposing the bail pleas of activists, Delhi on Tuesday argued that the incident was not spontaneous but an “orchestrated, pre-planned, and well-designed” attack on the nation’s sovereignty.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Delhi Police, had told the bench that there was an attempt to divide the society on communal lines and it was not merely an agitation against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.