CPI(M) condemns arrest of ex-JNU student Umar Khalid in Delhi violence

New Delhi [India], September 14 (ANI): Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Monday condemned the arrest of former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student leader Umar Khalid under provisions of the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in a case related to the violence that took place in northeast Delhi in February.
"Top BJP leaders who made hate speeches and incited violence are protected by the Central Government, while young peaceful protesters against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) are being targeted are arrested citing the utterly manufactured version of the country's Home Ministry and the Delhi Police linking anti-CAA protests with communal violence," the party said in a statement.
The party further said that the Central Government must stop the practice of the Special Branch summoning anti-CAA activists for questioning and trying to coerce them into implicating those targeted by the Home Ministry and the Police.
Condemning the arrest, CPI (M) said that the use of UAPA is to block the normal processes of justice by which they would have been out on bail since, as many of the lower courts have mentioned, there is not a shred of evidence against any of them for inciting violence.
"The arrests constitute an assault on the constitutional guarantees of the democratic right to dissent," the statement read.
The CPI(M) has opposed the CAA- National Register of Citizens (NRC)- National Population Register (NPR) from the beginning both in Parliament and outside in multiple protests throughout the country.
"It reiterates its strong opposition. It expresses its solidarity with all those facing the repression of the Central Government. It demands the release of all those arrested under UAPA in the Delhi communal violence case," the party said.
Earlier in the day, Former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student leader Umar Khalid, who was arrested by the special cell in connection with his alleged role in the violence which took place in north east Delhi in February this year, was sent to 10-day police remand by Delhi's Karkardooma Court on Monday.
Khalid has been booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
In February, violence took place in the north east area of Delhi between groups supporting and opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which led to the deaths of at least 53 people. (ANI)