Protesters demanding the release of Sharjeel, Dr Kafeel, and Tahir Madni at UP Bhawan detained
Hundreds of protesters who demands the release of JNU PhD scholar Sharjeel Imam, Gorakhpur doctor Kafeel Khan, and Ulema council national secretary Tahir Madni at UP Bhawan are detained and manhandled by Delhi police. The UP Bhawan gherao was organized by different organizations and collectives like United Against Hate, Jamia Coordination Committee, against state terror and demanding scrapping UAPA, NSA and sedition. These laws are used widely to quell the anti-CAA protests.
Delhi: A protest was organised by Jamia Coordination committee outside UP Bhawan today, against UP govt and demanding the release of Dr Kafeel Khan. The protesters have been detained by the Police. @ANI @BBCHindi @ttindia @ndtv @drkafeelkhan @Jamia_JCC @jamiamillia_ pic.twitter.com/PcH0zQAGEw
— Jamia Coordination Committee (@Jamia_JCC) February 20, 2020
We demand that all our students be released immediately. Since when is protesting a crime in this country ? Why is our right to dissent being suppressed so blatantly?
Ajay Bisht continues to spread terror in UP openly. Innocent people are being thrown into jails. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/mwG2biuvC3— Jamia Coordination Committee (@Jamia_JCC) February 20, 2020
One of the protesters who got an arm fracture is released. Advocate Arif Iqbal tweeted that the detained protesters demand food, but their demand is denied. At around 1 pm, around fifty students were detained and taken to Mandir Marg police station. They sloganeered against the draconian laws like UAPA and sedition inside the police station. After the detention more protesters including students marched to the police station.
Women as old and feeble as this one are being detained by @DelhiPolice . Over 100 more brought in. @Vakeel_Sb @ICLU_Ind @mishikasingh @jeevika_shiv I’m at Mandir Marg. SHO isn’t here & refuses to speak over phone. #CAA_NRCProtests pic.twitter.com/6th1ohahbD
— Arif Iqbal (@TheAdvIqbal) February 20, 2020
According to his brother Muzammil Imam, Sharjeel Imam is been taken to Assam in a secretive manner, by not letting his counsels or family know about it. Muzammil in his facebook post said that Sharjeel hide nothing and is cooperating with the investigation. Sharjeel is charged with UAPA and sedition in four BJP ruling states and in Delhi for a speech he made in Aligarh Muslim University
Tahir Madni was arrested from Azamgarh on February 5th. He is charged with sedition along with eighteen other protestors. The protestors were brutally lathi charged.
Dr Kafeel Khan was arrested by special task force of UP on January 30, under the FIR with charges including 153 A for a speech he made in December 2019 at AMU. Even after acquiring bail he was kept in custody for four more days and charged with National Security Act.
Days back Uttarpradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath said in the assembly that no protesters were killed by UP police and the protesters died by the gun shots of rioters. 23 people died in Uttarpradesh in the police action to suppress the anti-CAA movement.
The protesters were released around seven in the evening.
