The Delhi Police filed a plea challenging the recent order of the trial court, which approved the discharge of Sharjeel Imam, Asif Iqbal Tanha and nine others in a case related to the Jamia Millia Islamia University violence case in December 2019 where a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) turned violent.
According to the court filing which was assessed by the media reports, the plea alleged that the trial court’s order to release Imam and other accused in the Jamia violence case, which made global headlines, was based on the observations on merits while at this stage it was only required to find out whether there is sufficient ground to proceed against the respondents.
The police in its plea also said that while determining whether a case has been established by the prosecution for trial, the court should not enter into the pros and cons of the matter or a weighing and balancing of evidence and probabilities at the pre-trial stage.
“The trial court was also swayed by emotional and sentimental feelings, it cast aspersions on the prosecuting agency and passed gravely prejudicial and adverse remarks against the prosecuting agency and the investigation,” the plea stated.
Meanwhile, the Delhi High court allowed the urgent listing of plea and the matter will be heard on February 13.
What happened on the day of Jamia’s violence?
According to the plea, the police claims that the force was deployed to “maintain law and order” near Jamia Milia university and asked the protestors to maintain the law and order situation. The gathering included students as well.
In response, the protesters began to raise slogans and asked the “police to go back”, and subsequently started to break the barricades according to which the police force on duty “opposed them”.
The plea claims that the stones pelted by protesters caused injuries to policemen. Around 20 police officials and 25 protesters sustained injuries due to the clash, the plea submits.
On February 4, Additional Sessions Judge Arul Varma, Saket Courts, passed an order discharging Sharjeel Imam and others in the Jamia violence case.
