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'Trend that doctors, engineers engaging in anti-national activities': Delhi Police to SC
"Nowadays there is a trend that doctors, engineers are not doing their professions but engaging in anti-national activities," Additional Solicitor General said.
Arguing that some of the country’s educated professionals are drifting towards anti-national causes, the Delhi Police on Thursday opposed the bail pleas of activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the February 2020 riots conspiracy case. The submission comes just days after the Red Fort suicide attack that killed 12 people, a case in which several suspects are doctors.
"Nowadays there is a trend that doctors, engineers are not doing their professions but engaging in anti-national activities," Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the Delhi police, told a bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria.
During the hearing, he also pointed towards Sharjeel Imam’s background as an engineering graduate. He also claimed that the accused could not claim benefit from delays in the trial that were “attributable to them”.
Raju presented video clips of Imam’s speeches delivered in Chakhand, Jamia, Aligarh and Asansol in 2019 and 2020, insisting these were “not simple protests” but part of “violent protests” and discussions on “blockades”.
When Justice Kumar asked whether the videos were included in the chargesheet, Raju confirmed they were.
Khalid, Imam, Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider and Rehman face charges under the UAPA and provisions of the erstwhile IPC for allegedly being the “masterminds” of the riots that left 53 people dead and over 700 injured during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Red fort blast probe widens
The remarks in court come days after a suicide bombing near Delhi’s Red Fort killed at least 12 people, triggering an intensified probe into the Pulwama–Faridabad terror module suspected to be behind the November 10 attack.
According to a document reviewed by HT and people familiar with the matter, the CBI, Delhi Police and the NIA have written to hospitals and clinics across the NCR seeking detailed information on doctors who obtained medical degrees from Pakistan, Bangladesh, the UAE and China.
Officials said several members of the module are doctors, and the agencies are attempting to identify potential associates or sympathisers. Some doctors now under scrutiny are suspected to have completed MBBS, MS or MD degrees from China and Bangladesh.
The investigation is ongoing.
