Delhi Riots- Delhi High Court Reserves Order In Asif Iqbal Tanha's Appeal Against Rejection Of His Bail

The Delhi High Court on Thursday reserved orders in Jamia Millia Islamia student, Asif Iqbal Tanha's appeal against the rejection of his bail in connection with a case related to larger conspiracy in Delhi Riots that broke out last year.

A division bench comprising of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Bhambhani reserved the order.

Tanha has challenged an order dated 26th October 2020 dismissing his bail plea who was arrested under the stringent UAPA. Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat rejected the bail application after prima facie observing that the case was maintainable against Tanha and that he allegedly played an active role in the entire conspiracy.

Advocate Siddharth Agarwal appeared on behalf of the accused, Tanha whereas Aman Lekhi appeared on behalf of the State authorities before the Delhi High Court.

Case Before The Delhi Court

In the FIR 59/2020, which was lodged by Delhi Police in the Delhi riots conspiracy case, a total of 15 people were named and Tanha was one of them. The police claimed that Tanha played an active role in orchestrating the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

It was also alleged he is a close associate of Safoora Zargar, Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and others, and thet he is a "key members of anti-CAA protests and subsequent riots in the national Capital". It was also submitted that Tanha conspired, along with others, to "overthrow the Government" by setting up a chakka jam (road blockade) in Muslim-dominated areas.

Police also claimed that Tanha purchased a mobile SIM card by using fake documents and the same was used in planning the chakka jaam, riots etc and it was used to create a WhatsApp group. It was also claimed that the SIM was subsequently provided to another Jamia student and co-accused Safoora Zargar to organise further protests.

The Delhi Court observed that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accusations against the accused Asif Iqbal Tanha are prima facie true, hence, embargo created by Section 43D of UAPA applied for grant of bail to the accused.

"There is the freedom to protest available to all the citizens of the country but that is subject to reasonable restrictions. There is also, no manner of doubt that every citizen can hold an opinion about any legislation which they construe as unfair in their understanding. The freedom, and right to protest against any law is available to all the citizens. What actually has to be seen in the context of the present case is whether there was a conspiracy which led to riots under the guise of protest against CAA or not, in terms of the contents of the chargesheet." The Court observed in its order dismissing his plea.