The Delhi Police on Sunday ‘arrested’ rights activist Khalid Saifi who was already in custody and booked him in a third FIR related to the Delhi violence.
Saifi, a visible activist in the movement in opposition to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), has been booked under section 109, 114, 147, 148, 149, 186, 353, 427, 435, 436, 454, 34 Indian Penal Code.
Saifi, who was booked afresh under FIR 101, under Khajuri Khas Police Station has been sent to two days of police custody at Special Task Force, Crime Branch.
He was first arrested on 26 February 2020 along with former Delhi Municipal Councilor and anti-CAA activist, Ishrat Jahan, for taking part in a peaceful protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in Khureji Khas. Following the arrest, he has been sent to judicial custody for 14 days and charged under Section 307, which amounts to ‘attempt to murder’.
Most have also alleged that Saifi has been brutally beaten up in custody. They say that he was fine when he was taken away by the police but now he has fractures on both legs and he is unable to walk. Watch the video
Saifi, one of the founders of a group called United Against Hate (UAH) which was formed after lynchings under the guise of cow vigilantism became rampant. The group undertook tried to provide legal aid to victims and their kin.
“They are desperate to frame him as a conspirator in the Delhi violence case. Khalid Saifi is a diabetic patient and only earning member in his family and his wife and kids are completely dependent on him. Yet to expect any humanitarian treatment from the Delhi Police who are constantly targeting and framing anti-CAA activists in false cases of Delhi riots, is quite far fetched,” UAH said in a statement.
UAH has condemned “this nefarious designs of the police” and they said that they are confident that police conspiracy will fall flat and all the anti-CAA activists who have been wrongfully incarcerated will be proved innocent by the courts.
“Our resistance against the draconian and discriminatory CAA will meanwhile continue,” the group said.
