New Delhi: A Delhi court Wednesday sent Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) university student Asif Iqbal Tanha, booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, to judicial custody for 30 days in a case related to communal violence in northeast Delhi during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in February.
Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana sent him to jail till June 25 after the police did not seek his further custody.
Tanha, a third-year student of BA in Persian language, was earlier arrested in connection with the violence in the Jamia area during a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act in December last year. He was sent to judicial custody on till May 31 in the case.
The police had told the court that his custody was required in the northeast Delhi riots case to unearth the entire conspiracy with respect to the communal violence and to confront him with the electronic data collected during investigation.
Advocate Sowjhanya Shankaran, appearing for Tanha, had told the court that he was falsely implicated in the case and had no role in the alleged criminal conspiracy.
According to the police, Tanha, a resident of Abul Fazal Enclave in Shaheen Bagh, is a member of the Students Islamic Organization and was part of the Jamia Coordination Committee which spearheaded protests against the new Citizenship Amendment Law.
Jamia Coordination Committee members Safoora Zargar, Meeran Haider, President of Jamia Alumni Association Shifa-Ur-Rehman, suspended AAP Councillor Tahir Hussain have also been booked under the anti-terror law in the case.
Police had claimed that he is a close associate of Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Meeran Haider and Safoora Zargar who had been key organisers of anti-CAA protests and subsequent riots.
Protesters torched four public buses and two police vehicles December 15 last year as they clashed with police in New Friends” Colony near Jamia Millia Islamia during a demonstration against the amended Citizenship Act, leaving at least 40 people including students, policemen and fire fighters injured.
Communal clashes had broken out in northeast Delhi on February 24 after violence between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiralled out of control leaving at least 53 people dead and around 200 injured.
PTI