Delhi Police Charge-sheet On CAA Protest Naming Yechuri Sparks Controversy
Delhi Police’s move to name eight eminent personalities including Sitaram Yechuri, the CPI (M) Secretary, Yogendra Yadav,Swaraj Abhiyan leader and Jayanti Ghosh, economist , Apoorvananda, JNU professor and Rahul Roy, activist and documentary film maker in the supplementary chargesheet of anti-CAA protest -turned -riot in North East Delhi in last February claiming 53 lives and 508 left injured, triggered widescale controversy.
by reporter
Delhi Police’s move to name eight eminent personalities including Sitaram Yechuri, the CPI (M) Secretary, Yogendra Yadav, Swaraj Abhiyan leader and Jayanti Ghosh, economist, Apoorvananda, JNU professor and activist, and Rahul Roy, a documentary filmmaker in the supplementary charge sheet of anti-CAA protest -turned -riot in North East Delhi in last February claiming 53 lives and 508 left injured, triggered widescale controversy.
The charge sheet reportedly based on the statements given by three Citizenship Amendment Protest (CAA) protesters who were accused in the riot, has named the prominent personalities. Quoting the accused it reportedly says, the leaders have asked them to go to ‘extreme’ and spreading ‘discontent.’ They said the leaders asked them to ”spread discontent by calling Citizenship Amendment Act and NRC anti-Muslim and organizing demonstrations to malign the image of the Government of India”. The intellectuals have come forward dismissing the police charge sheet naming the eminent personalities as a ploy by the Delhi police under the BJP lead central government to target the voice of defiance against saffron politics.
Seetharam Yechuri slammed at Delhi police over the bid which allegedly targets persons like him who are against the ideologies of BJP. Being under the Centre and Home Ministry, the Delhi Police has been targeted with actions that are protecting the BJP’s top brass agenda, Yechuri alleged. The CPI (M) Secretary alleged that the BJP government in the Centre ”scared of legitimate peaceful protests by the mainstream political parties and are misusing state power to target the opposition”. Yechuri has accused the Delhi police that they did not have investigated the hate speech unleashed during the riots were not investigated. He alleged that the police did not have launched an investigation into certain videos of hate speech and registered case targetting at the opposition parties. Unleashing criticism on BJP, the CPI (M) Secretary said, ”this is the real face, character, tricks, and thinking of Modi and BJP. There will be opposition.”
Yechuri alleged Delhi police to have distorted the disclosure statements that have given by one of the accused arrested in connection with the CAA protest as statements against persons like him. Yechuri has expressed the view that cautious steps have to be taken in further actions, ” it is only on the existence of sufficient corroborative evidence that further legal action is taken. The matter is currently sub judice,” Yechuri tweeted.
Alleging that the passing of his name in the charge sheet has not been contained any of the statements that he had made during the protest, Yogendra Yadav said, “I notice that the passing reference to me does not even contain one sentence from my speech. I find it surprising that the Delhi Police has made no effort to see the recording of my speeches all of which are in the public domain.”. However, Yogendra Yadav has responded that his name and that of Yechuri were mentioned only in passing. He said the supplementary charge sheet did not consider me as co-conspirator or an accused. It is only a passing reference about me and Yechuri in an unauthenticated policy statement and it is not accountable in court, Yogendra Yadav said. He alleged that the Delhi police is trying to drag all anti-CAA protesters into the list of riot conspirators. He has reinforced that either his name or Yechuri’s were not put in the charge sheet as conspirators.
Slamming at the Delhi police move CPI (M) Kerala State Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said Delhi police bid is saffron agenda to eliminate the left ideologists and Dalits and Muslims. Delhi police move intended to have targeted leaders who have been fighting for secular ideologies in fake cases.
The supplementary charge sheet filed by the Delhi police that is with PTI discloses the names of Yechuri, Yogendra Yadav, Swaraj Abhiyan leader, and Jayanti Ghosh, economist, Apoorvananda, Delhi University Professor and activist and Rahul Roy, documentary filmmaker, and other prominent personalities. The report over the CAA protest which climbed 53lives and left 508 injured and among them 97of them with gunshot wounds. The Delhi police have made the clarification that the police did not have filed a charge sheet against Yechuri and Yogendra Yadav pertaining to CAA protest. The police have made it clear that the difference between the naming of someone in a charge sheet and mentioning a name due to certain allegations. Delhi police have dismissed the report that it named the prominent personalities participated in the CAA protest after the report sparked political controversies.