New Delhi: The Delhi Police has been told against taking any coercive action against Delhi Minorities Commission chief Zafarul Islam Khan till June 22, his lawyer said on Tuesday.
A charge of sedition over a post on social media has been booked against Dr. Khan. A single-judge bench of the High Court presided by Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri has granted his interim protection. It has also told the Delhi Police to submit reports on the status of the matter and gave the next hearing date of June 22nd.
He spoke with a sigh of relief saying, “I was sure that this verdict would come because there was nothing in the case and many lawyers have admitted this fact. However, I would say that whatever I said in that tweet, should not have been said,” during his phone call with IANS.
Khan’s lawyer, Vrinda Grover sent his petition forward in which he said that he is a law-abiding senior citizen of India. He also said that he is a public servant, performing his duties as the Chairperson of the Delhi Minorities Commission. He is a scholar, author of repute, and a senior citizen aged about 72 years.
The appeal stated that he recognizes that his arrest is on a motivated, untenable and frivolous complaint that has been registered by the Special Cell under Sections 124A/153A of the Indian Penal Code.
Khan had posted debatable matter on Facebook on April 28th, “Mind you, bigots, Indian Muslims have opted until now not to complain to the Arab and Muslim world about your hate campaigns and lynchings and riots. The day they are pushed to do that, bigots will face an avalanche.”
Delhi Police Special Cell registered the FIR on the complaint of a Vasant Kunj resident. According to the FIR, Khan has been booked sections 124 A (sedition) and 153 A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc,) of the Indian Penal Code.
On May 6th, a raid was carried out on Zafarul Islam in association with this case by the Cyber Cell of Delhi Police.
“The team was looking for the mobile handset used by him to post content on social media platforms,” sources in the enforcement agency said.
Vrinda Grover, Islam Khan’s advocate spoke with media persons regarding the raids conducted, “The raids have concluded and the police team has now left. We have asked the enforcement agency to work in accordance with the law.”
In a statement, Grover had said, “You are informed that Dr. Zafarul Islam Khan is a senior citizen of 72 years age and he suffers from old age related physical illnesses that make him extremely vulnerable to the Covid-19 coronavirus.” Grover added that according to section 160 CrPC, the police cannot force a person above 65 years of age to come or be brought at any place other than their residence for investigation and interrogation.
“You are required as per law to question/interrogate Dr. Zafarul Islam Khan only in his residence and you cannot compel him to go to any police station. As Dr. Khan’s lawyer, I am hereby placing on record that as per law you cannot compel him to go to the police station. That would violate the CrPC and amount to illegal police action against the rights of my client,” the statement read.
On April 29th, Islam had posted a statement clearing the air about his words getting misused and misinterpreted by some news channels, “I issued a tweet on my twitter handle. Nothing more should be added to this tweet as done by some media establishments. This tweet is in the background of how the issues of Muslims have been dealt with in our country, be it lynching, riots, media bashing or redressal of their problems in political and administrative processes. I have not complained against my country to any foreign government or organization nor I intend to do so in future. I am a patriot to the core and I have always defended my country abroad. However, at the same time I have always been vocal about the problems in our country like any other country but, I also believe that we and our political, constitutional and judicial system are capable to tackle them. I have always defended my country in Arabic media. My views have been distorted on a few electronic media forums and many false statements/opinions have been attributed to me. I will take appropriate legal steps available to me against them.”
There is a twitter war between people who support Dr. Khan and those who don’t. “I was curious about the basis of the Sedition case against Zafarul Islam Khan (thanks to my residual islamophobia) I felt maybe there was justification. Long story short, No. He put out a tweet thanking Kuwait for standing with Muslims. Hasn’t our PM thanks Arabian countries?,” read the tweet of one user.
Another user wrote, “I want to ask to police who put raid on Dr. Zafrul Islam @khan_zafarul house that when will police put raid on terrorist who attacks on JNU? Terrorist are free and police are busy in taking action on innocent people! #StopTargetingMuslims.”
“ “Also, I don’t understand why they wanted my device because I have accepted that I wrote the tweet and still stand by it,” So #Delhi Minorities Commission chairman Zafarul Islam Khan wants #DelhiPolice to do investigation the way he wishes.”, tweeted another user.
SOURCE: YTN STAFF
