New Delhi: Condemning the “harassment” of prominent human rights activist Nadeem Khan, a group of researchers, politicians and Supreme Court lawyers gathered at the Press Club of India in Delhi Tuesday afternoon to raise their voice against the matter.
Khan, the national general secretary of the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR), was “illegally detained” by the Delhi Police Saturday for almost six hours in Bengaluru, a statement by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) said.
This happened after an FIR was lodged against him for allegedly promoting enmity via a video on hate crimes. The Delhi High Court, however, has granted him interim protection from arrest till Friday, saying the country’s unity was “not so fragile”.
The event organised in the national capital to express criticism of the “attempt to arrest” Khan was moderated by writer-activist Farah Naqvi.
It featured a panel of eminent personalities, including senior Supreme Court lawyers Sanjay Hegde and Prashant Bhushan, lawyer Nizam Pasha, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha, former Planning Commission member Syeda Hameed, and Kavita Srivastava of the PUCL.
“This is not just about Nadeem or APCR. This case is about recasting the most basic act of citizenship and democracy into something criminal… This case is about delegitimising our rights,” Naqvi said. Such a case shows that only people with “certain names” can talk about issues such as lynching and bulldozer injustice while others cannot, she added.
“When someone is lynched or someone’s home is bulldozed, we have to be thankful to Nadeem for always being the first person to reach there to console and take the case to court,” Naqvi said, adding that APCR and Khan were being “targeted” for their “precious” work.
‘Failure of law and order’
An FIR was registered by the Delhi Police against Khan on charges of promoting enmity and criminal conspiracy after a video titled ‘Records of Hindustan in Modi Sarkar’, which documented hate crimes in India, was uploaded on YouTube.
On Tuesday evening, the Delhi High Court granted Khan interim protection from arrest till Friday.
The FIR was lodged at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh police station under sections 353 (statements conducing to public mischief), 196 (promoting enmity between different groups) and 61 (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Pasha, a Supreme Court lawyer, said that through the video, Khan was documenting hate crimes happening in the country. “That is being faulted for showing that crimes are being committed against one community.”
The PUCL alleged in the statement that Khan faced “coercion and intimidation” from police officers at a private residence in Bengaluru 30 November.
The organisation also alleged that four officers, including the station house officer (SHO) of Shaheen Bagh police station, arrived unannounced and without a warrant at Khan’s residence in Bengaluru and pressured him to travel to Delhi “voluntarily” for interrogation related to the FIR registered earlier that day.
“The first time the police came to his house, it was before the FIR was filed against him. And then, just in a few hours, the police reached Bengaluru to arrest him,” Pasha said. “Lynching is not related to just one community. And neither are the people who raise their voices against it. It’s a failure of law and order.”
ThePrint reached Dinesh Kumar, SHO of Shaheen Bagh, over the phone, but he refused to comment.
Condemning the FIR, senior Supreme Court lawyer Bhushan asserted that raising awareness about hate crimes and injustices should not be criminalised. He praised APCR—Khan’s organisation—for its impactful work on civil rights violations, highlighting its efficiency in addressing such issues.
Moreover, he expressed dismay over FIRs targeting activists like Khan and Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair, adding that the perpetrators of hate crimes remain untouched.
Senior Supreme Court lawyer Hegde said that when Subodh Kumar Singh, a police inspector, was lynched by a Hindu Right-wing mob during a protest in Uttar Pradesh on 3 December 2018, a procession was held in celebration outside the slain officer’s home by the perpetrators’ supporters, who had been granted bail.
“Khan brought Singh’s widow to my house. Later, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court, which subsequently cancelled the bail of the accused, and they are now in jail, awaiting trial,” he said.
(Edited by Radifah Kabir)
Why does Ms. Bakhsh not report on the persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh? The targeted pogroms which have resulted in hundreds of deaths mean nothing?
Neither does she report on the plight of Kashmiri Pandits in the Kashmir valley.
Nadeem Khan is anything but an activist. He has been inciting mobs to indulge in rioting and violent attacks. The police must take strict action to ensure he is behind bars for his misdeeds. A thorough investigation resulting in a prison sentence would be the ideal outcome.