The Delhi government on Thursday, 17 December, gave sanction to the Delhi Police to charge 18 people accused in the Delhi riots case, including former JNU students Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid, Pinjra Tod activists Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, suspended AAP councillor Tahir Hussain, and Ishrat Jahan, under sedition and criminal conspiracy charges.
The Delhi Police, on 22 November, had filed a supplementary charge sheet before a Delhi court against Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in connection with Delhi riots that broke out in February 2020 in the northeast part of the city.
The police had then informed the court that the sanction to prosecute the accused persons for sedition and other sections was still under consideration.
The Delhi Police, on 6 November, received the prosecution sanction from the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government against Umar Khalid. The court has taken cognisance of the charges and will go to trial only after the state government has given a prosecution sanction.
According to the Delhi government’s sanction approval letter, the police’s charge sheet was vetted, and after perusal, it appeared that “prima facie the accused persons had committed the acts of sedition and criminal conspiracy,” reported Hindustan Times.
Khalid was arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in September in the case. The Delhi Police arrested Sharjeel Imam under the same Act on 25 August. Imam was booked for allegedly delivering inflammatory speeches against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in December 2019.
In February this year, riots that broke out in parts of northeast Delhi claimed 53 lives and injured 583 persons.
(With inputs from Hindustan Times)
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