Jahangirpuri Accused 'Took Advantage Of Ramadan': Police Chargesheet Alleges
The police has claimed that the accused used Ramadan to assemble crowds at the mosque where the violence occurred.
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“Atrocities claimed to be carried out upon Muslim community”, “instigating videos of hate speeches” and “messages against other community/religion” were found in the mobile phones of the accused in the Jahangirpuri communal violence, the Delhi police has alleged in its chargesheet in the matter.
The police has also said that the Hanuman Jayanti procession did not have permission from authorities and was carrying weapons, but was “peaceful” until attacked by the “gathered Muslim population.”
The chargesheet, accessed by The Quint, also alleges that the main accused had mobilised people to “take revenge of the deaths of the people of their community during Delhi 2020 North-East riot cases and other incidents in other parts of India.”
Communal violence broke out in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri on 16 April during the Hanuman Jayanti procession or the ‘Shobha Yatra’. A total of 37 people have been named in the chargesheet, of which 31 are Muslim and 6 are Hindus.
The 2,063-pages-long chargesheet was filed by the Delhi Police Crime Branch at Rohini court on July 14, and taken cognizance of by the court on July 28.
'Revenge For Deaths In Delhi Riots'
The chargesheet names a Tabrez and an Ishrafil as the main conspirators in the violence and calls them “fanatically communal.”
The police has claimed in the chargesheet that the two used to address the public during the CAA and NRC protests in 2019-20, “by way of taqreer” in Jahangirpuri's Jama Masjid, which incidentally was the spot where clashes broke out between members of the Muslim community and the Shobha Yatris in April.
It further states that the two used to take the locals at Jahangirpuri “to the places of protests at different parts of Delhi in buses at their own expenses” during the CAA-NRC protests.
“Even after the protests of NRC & CAA of 2019 and 2020, they continued to provoke people and create communal differences between the communities for their vested interests and kept on adding like-minded fanatic persons to take revenge of the deaths of their community people during NRC & CAA and North East Delhi riots,” the chargesheet claims.
It adds that sensing a possible breach of public peace and tranquility, preventive action under Code Of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) 107 and 150 (security for keeping peace) was initiated against Tabrez by the police at the time.
Days before the Jahangirpuri violence, on 10 April, communal violence had occurred in different parts of the country on occasion of Ram Navami. The chargesheet claims that the Ram Navami violence was also used as an excuse to “instigate” others who were asked to keep themselves ready with weapons, swords, bricks, glass bottles.
“On the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti, they further provoked local people including the accused persons as per their hatched conspiracy to take revenge of the deaths of the people of their community during Delhi 2020 Noth-East riot cases and other incidents in other parts of India and also to take political benefits accordingly,” the chargesheet alleges.
The chargesheet also claims that the primary accused “took advantage of the month of Ramadan” and chose the Jahangirpuri Jama Masjid for assembling, and motivated the namazis to add more people to the plan.
"They motivated...other Namazis to add more and more members in the conspiracy," the chargesheet claims.
Moreover, Ishrafil had organised a ‘teeza’ for his father, observed on the third day of someone’s death, in the idgah behind the mosque on that very day, the chargesheet says. So they arranged “extra fruits and eatables and started inviting local residents there in the teeza. Consequently, a large number of people gathered at the Idgah,” the Delhi police wrote in the chargesheet.
'Shobha Yatra Had Weapons But Were Peaceful'
The police chargesheet also said that some members of the Shobha Yatra “were holding firearms, swords, sticks, etc,” but that the procession was moving peacefully “until it reached near Jama Masjid, C Block, Jahangirpuri.”
“Upon reaching at Jama Masjid, in pursuance of well-planned conspiracy, the gathered Muslim population confronted and attacked the procession with deadly weapons...On being attacked, the peaceful procession also responded,” the chargesheet claims.
The six Hindus who have been named in the chargesheet have been charged with IPCs pertaining to rioting and have also been charged under the Arms Act.
The chargesheet also states that “no permission was granted” to the organisers of the procession but they went ahead with it, and necessary police arrangements were made “to maintain law and order.”
WhatsApp Messages Of Accused, As Per Police
The police has named one ‘Kabutar Sell Group’-- a WhatsApp group, which was allegedly created by Tabrez, where “hate messages” were shared.
The transcripts of one of the messages, as alleged by the police in the chargesheet, says that “the community which does not raise its voice against injustice only shoulders corpses.”
“It is also important that despite receiving such type of messages he never left the groups. Such conduct of accused Tabrej speaks volumes about his bent of mind,” the police has claimed.
The police has also alleged that it has found a WhatsApp voice message in which Tabrez is “tutoring his associate how to make a false complaint against the procession to mislead the police investigation.”
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