'Unknown people' booked suo motu, some ID'ed, raids on to arrest them

New Delhi: A day after alleged "inflammatory" and "communal" speeches were made by a mob of protesters in the heart of the Capital at Jantar Mantar — at an event organised by former BJP spokesperson and Supreme Court advocate Ashwini Upadhyay, police complaints have poured in for action against the hate speech and those who were raising Islamophobic slogans with one FIR already registered suo motu but without naming anyone.

After hours of outrage on why no one had been identified from the viral videos, the Delhi Police late on Monday night said they had identified some suspects and teams were on the ground to make arrests in the case.

DCP (New Delhi) Deepak Yadav told Millennium Post that they have now identified a few suspects from the video and several police teams have been deployed to nab and ask them to join the probe.

Even Supreme Court advocate Upadhyay had been asked to join the probe but he has sought time till today (Tuesday) morning, citing his health.

The event was part of the "Bharat Jodo Andolan" by Upadhyay, against colonial-era laws.

The Delhi Police FIR is for promoting enmity between different groups (IPC 153A) against unknown persons and for violating DDMA's Covid guidelines.

While CPM leader Annie Raja and activist Shabnam Hashmi have filed a separate complaint at the Parliament Street Police station seeking 295A as well for deliberate acts to outrage feelings , another complaint has been made to the Supreme Court Registrar and the Bar Council by the Delhi High Court Women Lawyers' Forum seeking strict action.

And yet another complaint has been made to the New Delhi police by none other than Upadhyay himself, who claimed some "unknown persons" had infiltrated his event to "hijack" it and that he was being targetted.

Police had said that permission under the DDMA Act was refused to Upadyay but several people beyond the permissible limit started flocking in and making speeches.

In the several purported videos of the event that have sparked outrage on social media, a mob can be seen chanting slogans like, "Jab Mulle Kaate Jaenge, Ram Ram Chillaenge…," and "Hindustan Me Rehna Hoga, Jai Shree Ram Kehna Hoga…"

But according to Upadhyay and "Bharat Jodo Andolan", these slogans were coming from a select few and could not be heard from the stage.

Yet the media advisor of the movement, Shipra Shrivastava, said that Upadhyay had soon left the protest site after these slogans were raised and had nothing to do with them. In his police complaint, he demanded action against the "unruly elements" who "hijacked the protest and communalised it". Upadhyay has written to the area DCP, alleging that some persons are trying to "tarnish" his image and are hence attributing the videos to him.

Shrivastava said that it was wrong to communalise the incident and that the organisers don't support it.

"We have ourselves filed a complaint against the said unruly elements… we had ensured full security… a small group of persons came for 5 to 10 minutes, gave inflammatory speeches, and went...," she told Millennium Post.

Furthermore, the National Commission on Minorities has now also issued a notice to the concerned Deputy Commissioner of Police over the Jantar Mantar hate speech, seeking an action taken report.