New Delhi: Seeking custody of protesters accused of making pro-Hidma slogans, the Delhi Police drew an analogy with those accused of the blast outside Red Fort that killed 15 and left several injured on 10 November.
Arguing for police remand of the accused, additional public prosecutor Bhanu Pratap Singh submitted Wednesday that the grounds that the protesters were young, college students who were educated should not be an excuse, since even the accused behind the Red Fort blast were young, educated and allegedly brainwashed.
The Red Fort blast was carried out by MBBS degree holder Umar Un Nabi, who was allegedly a kingpin of the terror module comprising at least three more doctors who have been arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), so far.
The Delhi Police was seeking the custody of five accused, who were arrested and sent to judicial custody, along with another individual whose age was not verified at the time of apprehension. These accused are identified as Aahan Arun Upadhyay, Akshay ER, Prakash Kumar Gupta, Banka Akash, Sameer Fayis C. and Vishnu Shankar.
#WATCH | Delhi | Protestors arrested following yesterday's protest at the India Gate, taken from Patiala House Court. pic.twitter.com/7ydaCOdYtN
— ANI (@ANI) November 24, 2025
After hearing arguments of both the additional public prosecutor and the accused’s counsel, Judicial Magistrate Arindam Singh Cheema sent the group to police custody for three days, instead of a week sought by the cops.
“Additional PP has stated that if the college students were protesting on the pollution issue, then why the protesters turned violent and started to chant slogans of ‘Hidma amar rahe; kitna Hidma marogae, har ghar sae Hidma niklagem; Hidma ji ko Lal Salam (Long live Hida; how many Hidma will you kill, Hidma will come out from every house; Red Salute to Hidma)’,” the judicial magistrate said.
A member of the Central Committee of the banned outfit Communist Party of India (Maoist), Madvi Hidma was killed last week by the Andhra Pradesh Police in an encounter.
The pro-Hidma slogans can be heard in the video which has been played in the court.
This slogan, he said quoting the counsel for the police, is not related to pollution. “In view of the recent incident at the Red Fort, the investigation agency cannot be curtailed of their right to investigate the present matter.”
“He (the additional PP) has drawn an analogy to the Red Fort attack. In that case, the accused were young, educated and allegedly brainwashed. So, this should not be an excuse that the protesters are college students, young and educated. The PC remand is required to find out the source or the organisation behind the anti-national activities and to unearth the conspiracy behind such activities. He has further stated that there are many accused, and they have to be interrogated and it is not possible in judicial custody,” the magistrate said.
On the other hand, advocates Supantha Singha, Vertika Mani Tripathi, and Sidharth Tulsi Ganeshan countered the Delhi Police’s comparison of the protesters raising slogans with the Delhi blast was “far too an analogy”.
Also Read: In unseen video, Red Fort bomber calls suicide bombing as ‘martyrdom operations’
‘Justifying Naxalites’
At the outset of the proceedings Wednesday, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, New Delhi, submitted a status report denying any assault of protesters by the police deployed at the protest site.
If any injuries were inflicted on the protesters, the court observed, citing a report of the Delhi Police, it occurred due to their resistance while being removed from the site and not due to custodial torture.
The Delhi Police submitted that at around 4.15 pm Sunday, a group of protesters, predominantly affiliated with the All India Students’ Association (AISA), Students’ Federation of India (SFI), and Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU), entered the India Gate premises under the banner of the Delhi Coordination Committee for Clean Air.
They, the police alleged, were operating the social media account ‘The Himkhand’ and began raising slogans and displaying pamphlets, banners, and posters.
While trying to clear the area and attempting to remove them from the spot, there was a confrontation during which one protester, identified as Wafia, handed over pepper spray to co-protester Akshay, who subsequently sprayed on a constable, the Delhi Police submitted.
Initially, the protesters were booked under 74/79/115(2)/132/221/223(a)/61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), while Section 197(d) (the dissemination of false information endangering India’s sovereignty, unity or security) was added into the FIR on grounds of raising slogans in favour of Hidma.
In his submission, additional PP Singh said that the government was trying its level best to eradicate Naxalism from its roots, but acts like those done by the arrested accused who belong to premier institutions were giving “unnecessary heroism” to the movement and trying to justify the illegal acts of the Naxalites. He argued that acts of the accused would “certainly discourage the morale of forces who are fighting against them putting their life at risk.”
In total, six grounds were presented for seeking seven-day police custody that included interrogation to unearth the source of funding behind coordination and mobilisation of the group, and the identification of other co-accused.
Other reasons were custody to interrogate the accused to unearth the conspiracy behind the anti-national slogans and to confront them with Call Detail Records (CDR) to identify more co-accused. The police also wanted to trace the source of the pepper spray used by the protester.
“The investigating officer sought police custody of the accused persons to interrogate the accused regarding the anti-national slogans raised, to confront them with their CDRs and mobile chats, to ascertain the source of funding and to identify other conspirators through video footage,” Judicial Magistrate Cheema observed.
Given the recent attack in Delhi, the magistrate said, the right of the police cannot be curtailed at the nascent stage when there are allegations regarding the raising of slogans which jeopardise India’s sovereignty, integrity and security.
“Considering the seriousness of the allegation, the need to unearth the larger conspiracy, and the requirement of effective investigation, this court finds that the police custody is warranted,” he said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: Hidma gone, Sonu out & Devujee on the run—Maoists fight battle of survival as forces close in