A 24-year-old student of Jamia Millia Islamia has been arrested by the Delhi Police in connection with the violence in North East Delhi in February, ANI reported on Thursday.

The action was taken amid allegations from student activists that the police have been targeting them for mobilising peaceful anti-government protests, starting December 2019.

The accused, Asif Iqbal Tanha, was on Sunday arrested for the violence at Jamia on December 15 and sent to police custody for seven days. According to the Delhi Police Special Cell, action is being taken against Tanha under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the case.

Advertisement

He is a third-year student of BA Persian language and also an active member of the Students Islamic Organisation, the police said, according to India Today. The police claimed that Tanha played an active role in orchestrating the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

“He is a close associate of Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Meeran Haider and Safoora [Zargar] who had been the key members of anti-CAA protests and subsequent riots in the national Capital,” an official added.

Clashes had broken out between the supporters of the new citizenship law and those opposing it between February 23 and 26 in North East Delhi, killing 53 people and injuring hundreds. The police were accused of either inaction or complicity in some instances of violence, mostly in Muslim neighbourhoods. The violence was the worst Delhi saw since the anti-Sikh riots of 1984.

Advertisement

Last month, the police had booked former Jawaharlal Nehru University student Khalid and Jamia Millia Islamia students Haider and Zargar under the UAPA. The students have also been booked for the offences of sedition, murder, attempt to murder, promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and rioting.

By April 13, the police had made more than 800 arrests in the case, according to The Indian Express. An unidentified official was quoted as saying that the Union home ministry “insisted that police must continue making arrests under any circumstances”.

Also read:

  1. As Delhi Police crack down on student leaders, courts cite lockdown to justify lack of scrutiny
  2. Following authoritarian regimes around the world, India is using Covid-19 pandemic to crush dissent
  3. Arbitrary arrests of CAA-NRC protesters point to political vendetta under the cover of Covid