30 arrested in Delhi for protesting over FIR against AIMIM chief Owaisi

Police said a total of 30 persons staged the protest outside the police station decrying Owaisi being booked in the hate speech case and demanding the arrest of the two BJP leaders.

The Delhi Police on Friday arrested 30 persons, including the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Delhi president Kaleemul Hafeez and two office-bearers, for protesting outside the Parliament Street police station over the naming of their party chief Asaduddin Owaisi in a hate speech FIR, along with 32 others, including suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma and expelled BJP leader Naveen Kumar Jindal.

Among the 30 arrested were AIMIM Delhi chief Kaleemul Hafeez, spokesperson Mumtaz Alam Rizvi, and secretary Raju Riyaz, police said. (Representative image)

Police said a total of 30 persons staged the protest outside the police station decrying Owaisi being booked in the hate speech case and demanding the arrest of the two BJP leaders.

Deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi) Amrutha Guguloth said the protesters were arrested under sections 186 (obstructing public persons in discharge of duty) 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 353 (assault or criminal force), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt), 147 (rioting) 149 (unlawful assembly), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.

Among the 30 arrested were AIMIM Delhi chief Kaleemul Hafeez, spokesperson Mumtaz Alam Rizvi, and secretary Raju Riyaz, police said.

The FIR has been registered on a complaint given by a sub-inspector rank officer who alleged that the protesters created a ruckus outside the police station and were trying to enter through the main gate when he tried to stop them. He said he and four other policemen were injured in the scuffle that followed.

An advocate identified as Mujeeb Rehman was also allegedly detained but police later issued a statement saying that after ascertaining that he had come to address his client, he was allowed to leave but he himself decided to stay back.

Rahman refuted this statement and said, “Police are lying. I had come to the police station around 12:30pm when I received a call that some people had been detained. I was talking to the media when I was forcibly taken inside the police station and manhandled. They only allowed me to leave only later,” he said.

The Delhi Police on Thursday registered two FIRs -- one against Sharma and another against Jindal, Owaisi and 30 others, including journalist Saba Naqvi, priest Yati Narsinghanand and Jharkhand minister Hafizul Hasan Ansari -- for allegedly making inflammatory statements and hurting religious statements.

The investigating team is yet to serve notices to the people named in the two FIRs, asking them to join the probe, officers privy to the matter have said.

The Delhi Police’s intelligence fusion and strategic operations (IFSO) unit is probing both cases. An officer associated with the investigation said they are collecting evidence against each individual. “The process of sending notices to them will begin soon,” the officer said.