On a case related to alleged communal sloganeering at Jantar Mantar in the national capital, a Delhi court on Tuesday sent six people, including ex-BJP spokesperson Ashwini Upadhyay, to two days in judicial custody. Preet Singh, Deepak Singh, Deepak Kumar, Vinod Sharma and Vinit Bajpai are the others in custody. Their bail applications are pending, and will be heard by the court today.
A video showing anti-Muslim slogans being raised during a protest at Jantar Mantar has been widely circulated on social media, following which the Delhi Police registered a case in connection with the matter. The video shows a group of people shouting inflammatory slogans and threatening Muslims during the protest at Jantar Mantar. Upadhyay, who organised the event in Delhi, has denied any links to the incident.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind chief Maulana Mahmood Madani has written to Home Minister Amit Shah and the Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana and demanded stern action against the guilty. Apart from this, a delegation led by Maulana Hakeemuddin Qasmi, the General Secretary of the Jamiat, called on Jaspal Singh, the Joint Police Commissioner, New Delhi Range and Deepak Yadav, the DCP, at a makeshift camp at Jantar Mantar and handed over to them the copy of the letter.
Around 100 student activists and civil society members gathered near Jantar Mantar on Tuesday to protest the incident. The protesters were carrying placards saying "zero-tolerance towards hate mongers". The Left-backed All India Students' Association, in a statement, said the Delhi Police has "undemocratically" detained students, civil society, journalists, AISA activists and people from other organisations for protesting against hate speech by BJP-RSS members in Delhi. It demanded the release of those who were detained. Members of the Students' Federation of India (SFI), who had also participated in the protest, said the gathering was aimed at resisting the communal polarisation with a message of peace and secularism.
-Inputs from PTI
