Bhim Army Chief Chandra Shekhar Azad Sent to 14 Days' Judicial Custody over Citizenship Act Protests

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posted on 4 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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Bhim Army Chief Chandrashekhar Azad, who was arrested earlier in the day, sought bail from the court on the ground that there is no evidence that he instigated the Jama Masjid crowd to go to Delhi Gate where the protesters had turned violent.

New Delhi: Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar Azad, who was arrested in connection with the violence in Old Delhi's Daryaganj area, gave "inflammatory speech" at Jama Masjid after the Friday prayers due to which the crowd started moving from the mosque towards Delhi Gate, police said in its FIR.

The FIR, which does not name anyone as accused, said the crowd at Delhi Gate was stopped from moving ahead using barricades and they were asked to disperse using loudspeakers and the mosque also made the announcement.

Some of them started dispersing but after a while information came that a crowd of 4,000-5,000 was coming from Northeast Delhi on Friday following which the crowd outside the Deputy Commissioner of Police's office in Daryaganj swelled to 8,000-10,000, it said.

The FIR claimed that the crowd was chanting slogans against a proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and was planning to go to Jantar Mantar to protest. It was an "unlawful assembly" as the crowd was protesting without the police's permissions, it alleged.

The FIR further alleged that after a while, the crowd started pelting stones at the police, following which they used water cannons to disperse the crowd. The police used "minimum force" to disperse the crowd and most of the protestors got injured when they fell down amidst the chaos, it stated.

Azad was arrested and sent to 14 days' judicial custody and his bail plea was rejected by a Delhi court on Saturday. The court further sent 15 others, arrested in connection with the violence at Daryaganj, to two days' judicial custody.

Another court also sent 11 others, arrested in connection with violence in Seemapuri area of Northeast Delhi on Friday, to 14 days' judicial custody, a lawyer said. Incidents of violence were reported on Friday from Daryaganj in Old Delhi and Seemapuri in Northeast part of the national capital during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.