Student activists Sharjeel Imam and Asif Iqbal Tanha. A Delhi court on Feb. 4, 2023, discharged Sharjeel and Asif within the 2019 Jamia violence case.
| Photo Credit: PTI
A day after a Delhi court discharged Sharjeel Imam and 10 others within the 2019 Jamia Nagar violence case, senior Congress chief P. Chidambaram on Sunday stated the legal justice system that tolerates pre-trial incarceration is an affront to the Constitution and urged the Supreme Court to put an end to this “daily abuse of the law”. A court right here on Saturday discharged 11 folks, together with scholar activists Imam and Asif Iqbal Tanha, who participated in anti-CAA protests, within the 2019 Jamia Nagar violence case, saying they had been made “scapegoats” by police, and that dissent has to be inspired, not stifled.
Reacting to the event, Mr. Chidambaram tweeted, asking whether or not there was even prima facie proof in opposition to the accused.
“The Court’s conclusion: unequivocal no. Some accused have been lodged in jail for nearly three years. Some got bail after many months. This is pre-trial incarceration,” the previous Home Minister stated.
“An inept police and overzealous prosecutors are responsible for keeping citizens in jail before trial. What action will be taken against them?” Mr. Chidambaram stated in a sequence of tweets.
Who will give again the months or years that the accused spent in jail, he requested.
“Our criminal justice system that tolerates pre-trial incarceration is an affront to the Constitution of India, especially Articles 19 and 21. The SC must put an end to this daily abuse of the law. The sooner the better,” Mr. Chidambaram stated.
“Bless the trial courts that push back against the abuse of the law and uphold liberty,” he added.
Noting that the accused had been merely current on the protest website and there was no incriminating proof in opposition to them, the court stated dissent is an extension of the elemental proper to freedom of speech and expression, topic to cheap restrictions.
An FIR was lodged in reference to the violence that erupted after a conflict between police and folks protesting in opposition to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) within the Jamia Nagar space right here in December 2019.
Mr. Imam was accused of instigating the riots by delivering a provocative speech on the Jamia Millia Islamia University on December 13, 2019. He will proceed to stay in jail as he’s an accused within the bigger conspiracy case of the 2020 northeast Delhi riots.
Additional Sessions Judge Arul Varma stated there have been admittedly scores of protesters on the website and a few anti-social components throughout the crowd might have created an atmosphere of disruption and havoc.
“However, the moot question remains— whether the accused persons herein were even prima facie complicit in taking part in that mayhem? The answer is an unequivocal no,” Judge Varma stated.