Jamia student held for involvement in north-east Delhi riots
Joint commissioner of police (special cell) Neeraj Thakur confirmed the arrest of Meeran Haider but did not share further details.
The Delhi Police on Thursday said they had arrested a PhD scholar from Jamia Millia Islamia in connection with a case of rioting and criminal conspiracy pertaining to February’s riots in north-east Delhi that claimed the lives of 53 people and left over 400 injured. His alleged “involvement in the conspiracy to instigate the riots, funding the violence and the agitation against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in Shaheen Bagh” is also being probed, officers privy to the case said.
Joint commissioner of police (special cell) Neeraj Thakur confirmed the arrest of Meeran Haider but did not share further details.
A senior police officer from the special cell, who did not want to be named, said that Haidar is the president of Bihar-based political party Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)’s youth wing—Chhatra RJD—Delhi unit. Haider is currently being interrogated at the special cell’s Lodhi Colony office.
According to the officer, Haider, a resident of Jamia Nagar, was served a notice on March 31, asking him to join the probe in the case of rioting and criminal conspiracy that was registered by the crime branch after the north-east Delhi riots. Haider was asked to reach the special cell’s Lodhi Colony office at 10am on April 1 (Wednesday).
“We arrested Haider in the case, as we have enough evidence to prove the charges against him. His role in funding the riots and anti-CAA protests is being probed,” the special cell officer cited above said.
The Jamia Coordination Committee (JCC) alleged that Haider was called for interrogation by the Delhi Police’s special cell at their office in Lodhi Road on Wednesday.
“Yesterday around 10pm, men in uniform had approached his local residence enquiring about him. He was taken into custody around 10.30pm on Wednesday. The JCC demands that he must be immediately released as all charges against him are baseless,” said the committee in a statement.
The University administration said they have not been informed about the incident by the police and denied to comment further.
The JNU unit of RJD on Thursday also issued a statement demanding his release. “Delhi Police had asked Meeran Haider, the president of the young RJD, Delhi, to join the investigation and then arrested him without giving any valid reason. Today, when the whole country and the whole world is busy dealing with this pandemic, the government is arresting innocents like him. We demand his immediate release,” the statement read.
On March 9, the special cell had arrested Mohammad Danish, a 33-year-old member of the Popular Front of India (PFI), in connection with the case on similar charges.
Danish’s arrest came a day after the special cell arrested a couple—Jahanzaib Sami,36, and his 39-year-old wife Hina Bashir Beigh—for their alleged links with the Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISKP), instigating protests against the CAA and spreading hatred between communities in the country.