The Delhi High Court on Wednesday extended the protection from arrest granted to human rights activist Nadeem Khan, reported Bar and Bench.
Khan, the national secretary of the Association for the Protection of Civil Rights, has been charged with promoting enmity between groups and criminal conspiracy. The Delhi Police booked Khan on November 30 based on a widely shared video.
On December 3, Justice Jasmeet Singh granted interim protection from arrest to Khan and directed him to join the police investigation the next day. He was also ordered not to leave Delhi without the investigating officer’s permission.
On Wednesday, the police told the court that Khan would not be arrested while the investigation in the case is ongoing, reported Live Law. They also said that Khan would be given seven days’ notice in case his custodial interrogation is required.
The court disposed of the pleas filed by Khan and the Association for the Protection of Civil Rights seeking quashing of the first information report registered against him.
The FIR against Khan, seen by Scroll, pertains to an event in Hyderabad from November 14 to November 16, in which the Association for Protection of Civil Rights had participated.
The organisation describes itself as working to uphold civil liberties.
A member of Khan’s organisation told Scroll that the event had featured discussions on the Supreme Court’s guidelines on mob lynching, bulldozer demolitions and hate speech. The group was just one of the participants there.
The FIR claimed that a police official identified as Sub-Inspector Akshay, while on patrol duty, was alerted by unidentified persons about a video posted on social media, which was reportedly causing “significant anger among local residents” and had the potential to incite violence.
This led the police to find the video allegedly featuring Khan that was uploaded on YouTube on November 21.
The Association for Protection of Civil Rights, however, maintained that the video did not show Khan uttering unlawful speech. The organisation alleged that on November 30, the Delhi Police had tried to detain Khan in Bengaluru without an arrest warrant. They subsequently issued a notice under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita directing him to appear before the police.
On Tuesday, Live Law reported that the police had alleged before the High Court that Khan selectively and misleadingly in an attempt to create a narrative portraying members of a “particular community” as victims of systematic oppression by the current government.
The police claimed that the nature of the information that the activist disseminated clearly showed that he intended to exploit historical and social sensitivities, PTI reported. They alleged that he showed a wilful disregard for the effects of his actions on communal harmony.
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