By: Waqar Ahmad

The passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the parliament in December 2019 had raked up massive protests across India. People especially Muslims took to streets to rally, staged sit-ins and created road blocks against the discriminatory citizenship law (CAA) in different parts of the country. Thethe Citizenship Amendment Act CAA, which has provision to grant citizenship to all non-Muslim communities from three Muslim majority countries Bangladesh, Pakistan and Bangladesh, is not just discriminatory but also has potential to disenfranchise millions of Muslims if the law is implemented in combination with the National Register of Citizenship (NRC).

As the protests were going on for several months, the Hindutva activists found the moment opportune to carry out riots. In the last of February 2020, a mob of Hindutva groups led by BJP leaders including Kapil Mishra went to clash with anti-CAA protesters in north east Delhi and started violence against the protesters. The security forces, who were deployed there, were fully cooperating with those who were unleashing violence against anti-CAA protesters. This is how the mob of rioters, who went to clash with anti-CAA protesters, went berserk to unleash violence against Muslims in the northeast region of Delhi and it continued for three days under the full protection of the security forces. The police forces, who were present there, were acting against the rioters and they even resorted to violence against Muslims. This three-day violence claimed 53 lives, who were mostly Muslims, injured hundreds of people and displaced thousands of Muslims.

The entire episode of violence happened right under the nose of the government. Most of the incidents of violence have been reported and recorded. But, Rather than acting against the culprits, the Narendra Modi government used the riots as an opportune moment to crush anti-CAA activists. The Delhi Police, which comes under the Union Home Ministry, started framing all those who played a key role or lead anti-CAA movement. The Delhi police has come up with a conspiracy theory about the riots. In these cases of conspiracy to hatch riots, the police arrested many activists like Umar Khalid, Meeran Haider, Khalid Saifi, Ishrat Jahan, Sharjeel Imam and others. Among these activists, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal are also those who were arrested in connection with cases related to Delhi riots.

Asif Tanha was first arrested in the case of Jamia Millia Islamia violence and then named in Delhi riots case. These activists were booked under draconian anti-terror law Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in which it becomes tough for the accused to get bail.

However, the Delhi High Court exposed the conspiracy hatched by the Delhi police to frame the activists in riots cases. On Tuesday, the Court granted bail to three student activists Asif, Devangana, Kalita observing that there is no evidence of violence and any terror activities against them. The court even observed that the government is trying to suppress dissent and constitutional rights to protest by invoking anti-terror law against them.

“In its anxiety to suppress dissent, in the mind of the State, the line between constitutionally guaranteed right to protest and terrorist activity seems to be getting somewhat blurred. If this mindset gains traction, it would be a sad day for democracy,” observed the court.

The court exposed all government-supported propaganda being peddled to defame not just the entire anti-CAA movement but also all those people who led the movement. This was being done not just to crush the dissenting voices but also to protect all those rioters including BJP leaders who were involved in Delhi violence.

So far, only three activists were released. There are others who are still languishing behind bars for committing no crime. It’s yet to see when the court applies the logic of this judgment to release other anti-CAA activists.

*Opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of al-Mujtama