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HomeIndiaUnited Against Hate, the 'fact-finding' group accused of conspiracy in Delhi riots

United Against Hate, the ‘fact-finding’ group accused of conspiracy in Delhi riots

Delhi Police charge sheet names United Against Hate & its members Khalid Saifi & Umar Khalid alleging their link to 'deep-rooted conspiracy' that resulted in riots.

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New Delhi: In a dingy neighbourhood in Haryana’s Panipat one late night last September, 31-year old Zulfiqar and his older brother found themselves surrounded by a mob armed with steel rods, allegedly forcing them to chant Jai Shri Ram. Zulfiqar felt it could be the last minutes of their lives.

A “petrified” Zulfiqar ran back to his room, which doubled up as his weaving factory, and called a helpline number he had seen on Facebook, he told ThePrint. 

This helpline, to provide assistance to victims of mob violence and prevent possible incidents of violence, had been launched by a Delhi-based platform called United Against Hate (UAH) earlier in 2019. Activist Khalid Saifi, a UAH member, took Zulfiqar’s call and immediately rang up Nikhil Sharma, a 29-year-old local businessman in Panipat, to rush to his aid.

“I came and stood between the mob and the two brothers. I said if you have to kill them, you must kill me first,” said Sharma. His intervention proved life-saving for Zulfiqar and his brother as the mob backed off. 

“I had met Khalid bhai at many protests earlier… He would always be the first one to stand up for the less privileged,” Sharma added.

On 26 February, Saifi was arrested from the Khureji Khas anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protest site in the national capital for his alleged involvement in the Delhi riots and has been in custody since. Last week, the Delhi Police named him in the charge sheet, saying the February riots were part of a “deep-rooted conspiracy” that had links with UAH and its members Saifi and Umar Khalid.

Nearly three months before the charge sheet, Union Home Minister Amit Shah too had named UAH in his speech in the Lok Sabha on the Delhi riots. “United Against Hate — the name sounds so pious but look what they advocated. They said, ‘(Donald) Trump is about to come, we should block the streets’,” Shah had said.

ThePrint spoke to members of the group and its associates about the origin and functioning of UAH, in the light of these allegations.


Also read: More Muslims are killed in riots, then more of them get arrested, it’s not new: Mahmood Madani


Fact-finding missions

United Against Hate was started in 2017 during the #NotInMyName protests that had been triggered by a series of alleged hate crimes — the latest being the case of 15-year-old Junaid Khan who was stabbed to death in Haryana.

Umar Khalid, an activist from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and founding member of UAH, said, “It was great that the silence was broken, but I and some others I met at these protests felt like this might not take a long-term form. We wanted to turn what was a spontaneous reaction to a more sustained, consistent fight against hate.”

In collaboration with lawyers, journalists and retired police personnel, the group would go on to conduct several “fact-finding” missions across India over the next two years — from investigating Assam’s foreign tribunals involved in the NRC process to the 2018 violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Kasganj.

The United Against Hate team at a fact-finding mission to investigate a lynching in Araria, Bihar in January 2019. | Photo: Special arrangement/UAH
The United Against Hate team at a fact-finding mission to investigate a lynching in Araria, Bihar in January 2019. | Photo: Special arrangement/UAH

S.R. Darapuri, a retired IPS officer who was part of both the fact-finding teams, described UAH as a “pro-people” organisation. “It was clear that they wanted to work for the people, especially for those who are persecuted and affected by the excesses of the police, or the state.” 

He said the group was “truly secular” in its composition as well.

“The fact-finding team that went to Assam, for instance, had an equal number of Muslims and non-Muslims. So they never had any bias in their mode of working, it was a truly secular group,” added Darapuri, who was arrested in Lucknow in connection with anti-CAA protests in December 2019. He got bail later.


Also read: Jamia, marred by CAA controversy, enters top 10 in Modi govt ranking of varsities


‘From Najeeb to Ankit to Subodh’ 

United Against Hate describes itself an initiative to show solidarity against hate — of all kinds.

“There’s needless ‘whataboutery’ that we may be subjected to — but the fact of the matter is that it is Dalits and Muslims who are disproportionately targeted,” said Khalid, who first made headlines due to a sedition case against him in 2016.

“But our position has been consistent. We have spoken up for Ankit Saxena who was a victim of communalism, as well as inspector Subodh in Bulandshahr,” he said. Saxena, a 23-year-old Delhi resident, was stabbed to death by the family of his Muslim girlfriend in 2018. 

Khalid Saifi with Hindu community leaders at an Eid celebration organised by UAH in 2019. | Photo: Special arrangement/UAH
Khalid Saifi with Hindu community leaders at an Eid celebration organised by UAH in 2019. | Photo: Special arrangement/UAH

The UAH team has held public Eid and Diwali celebrations in the past.

But beyond the optics, UAH members said, they believe in substantial help to victims for hate — especially pertaining to legal aid. 

In October 2019, three years after JNU student Najeeb Ahmed went missing following a fight with students of RSS-affiliate ABVP, his mother Fatima Nafees shared a UAH stage with Rajni Singh, wife of inspector Subodh Kumar Singh who was killed by a mob in Bulandshahr in 2018 when he tried to restore calm after violence over cow carcasses.

Fatima Nafees (Najeeb's mother) and Rajni Singh (Subodh Kumar Singh's wife) sharing a dais at a press conference. | Photo: Fatima Khan/ThePrint
Fatima Nafees (Najeeb’s mother) and Rajni Singh (Subodh Kumar Singh’s wife) sharing a dais at a press conference. | Photo: Fatima Khan/ThePrint

“They reached out to us by themselves. Honestly, it just felt good that someone cared enough to reach out in this manner,” Shrey Singh, the officer’s son, told ThePrint. 

“They (UAH) were extremely transparent in their functioning. They connected us to a very good senior lawyer, who took on our case and gave us very helpful legal advice. Before that, we were quite lost.”


Also read: US report cites cow vigilantism, CAA, Article 370 to note religious ‘discrimination’ in India


Heterogeneous group, with ‘pronounced Muslim agency’

The platform quickly gained prominence with continued protests, press conferences and fact-finding expeditions.

Apoorvanand, a political scholar and professor at Delhi University, said there are other organisations working on minority rights too. What appealed to me about UAH was that the agency of Muslims was pronounced, as were their voices.” 

Apoorvanand said he found most of the members, in their early 30s, “wise beyond their years”.

Besides Umar Khalid and Khalid Saifi, some other members of the organisation include activists Nadeem Khan and Banojyotsana Lahiri, and lawyer Tamanna Pankaj.

“Some of us are practising Muslims, some are Leftist-atheists, some practising Hindus. What is common is our commitment against hate,” Khan told ThePrint.

Many prominent names, such as senior Supreme Court advocate Sanjay Hegde and Apoorvanand, participated in UAH’s events from time to time, though they weren’t official members. 


Also read: Minor arrested for anti-CAA protests in Feb freed after HC says he was ‘languishing’ in jail


Delhi riots charge sheet

In months before the February Delhi riots, which left 53 dead, UAH members participated in several anti-CAA protests across India.

The Delhi Police charge sheet in the riots case said now-suspended AAP leader Tahir Hussain was connected to Saifi and Khalid in a larger conspiracy to organise the riots.

“During investigation, it was also revealed that the accused Tahir Hussain was in touch with Khalid Saifi who is connected with Unite Against Hate Group. Tahir Hussain was also connected to Umar Khalid through Khalid Saifi. Khalid Saifi had arranged Tahir’s meeting with Umar Khalid on 08.01.2020 at Saheen Bagh (sic),” the charge sheet said. 

“In that meeting, it was decided to have a big blast so that the Central Govt. could be shaken on the issue of CAA/NRC and so as to defame the country in the international arena… These riots were planned to be happened during or prior to the visit of US President Donald Trump in the month of February, 2020 (sic),” the charge sheet added.

Umar Khalid denied these charges. “The Delhi Police is writing crime fiction, this is completely false,” he said. 

The first public reference to US President Donald Trump’s possible visit to India in February was reportedly made on 13 January.

“The organisation has been involved in several anti-CAA protests and has a clear role in the Northeast Delhi riots. The leads that have surfaced need to be further investigated to decipher what their plan was and how they executed it. Umar Khalid and UAH both are under scanner,” said a senior police officer, who did not wish to be named.

Apoorvanand said Saifi had called him as well as several other activists on 24 February — two days before his arrest — asking for help in clearing the anti-CAA protest site in Jaffrabad, which became embroiled in a row over the Delhi riots amid alleged provocative statements by BJP leader Kapil Mishra.

“He (Saifi) was truly perturbed by it, and he felt it was everyone’s responsibility that no protest escalates to something bigger. He was trying to be a peacemaker,” he said.

With inputs from Ananya Bhardwaj.


Also read: Modi govt transfers MHA’s media wing officers after ‘CAA wasn’t mentioned’ as an achievement


 

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6 COMMENTS

  1. This is sad and scary. The government is crossing all lines. We (the citizens) need to do something about this. We need to pledge, to not vote for a particular famous person anymore. We should ask government and government authorities questions. It’s shocking that Saifi is still in Jail and because of Covid, nobody is gonna concentrate on that!!!

  2. Till we accept the reality that praying multiple times a day. Constantly being told that only your beliefs are right and non believers will burn in hell. Does create anger against others. Utter disregard for modern scientific education as it conflicts with religious text. A narrative that if you are involved in riots it’s because you are victims of hitherto unknown conspiracy. Might just be the reasons for violence against others .Otherwise why would all over the world where a particular community is in absolute majority they are still killing each other in thousands . So seek answers within .

  3. Right Wing obsessed with eupohoria on inappropriate issues! Polarization society since Gujarat 2002! Time line of BJP governance is inappropriate, Constitutionally. It is not focusing on real economy issues 80% of population of India is sufferring! Citizens and tax-payers must ask questions to mitigate the governance Constitutionally, vis-a-vis on party line and on the agenda of RSS which is disastroush and deterimental to Nation like India!

  4. So fact finding team also involved in organizing protests, canvassing people, religious outreach. Lot of talent for drab factfinding. It is like modern forensics, swat, judge and judiciary all at one place. Why do not we follow same model for police. Very impressive lol.

  5. Only two persons….only two…who are entirely responsible for the Delhi riot. Guess who they are. Sitting in the power corridor …enjoying Z -category protection….falsifying every incidents. Constantly raping the constitution of India….spreading venom in the society…openly instigating RSS cadre to kill minorities…Dalits…and the one whoever saying anything against Modi & Co…..sending them to jail….!!!! We see Hitler and Goebbel combination here to destroy the whole country and ushering an era of Fascist regime. Notorious duo !!!

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