Imam’s speeches were so powerful that it captured the imagination of the people belonging to particular community and incited them to take part in disruptive activities which finally resulted in the riots, Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai of Karkardooma court said in his order.
“Although the applicant did not ask anybody to pick the weapons and kill the people but his speeches and activities mobilised the public which disrupted the city and might be the main reason in outbreak of the riots. Further, through inflammatory speeches and social media, the applicant skillfully manipulated the real facts and incited the public in order to create a havoc in the city. Further, the words as used by the applicant in his different speeches were so powerful that they captured the mind of the people of a particular community and incited them to take part in the disruptive activities which finally resulted into the riots,” the order said.
After the speeches of Imam and due to his activities, a number of protesters and protest sites in Delhi increased and the crowd started blocking the main roads which consequently put the whole city on a standstill, the Court said.
“Finally, just after the speeches and the alleged activities of the applicant, on different dates and places, the riots occurred causing violence, huge damage to the public property and death of a large number of people,” the judge stated.
The observations were made while denying statutory bail to Imam in a sedition and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) case filed against him for allegedly making inflammatory speeches in Delhi’s Jamia area and Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in December 2019.
Source: Barandbench
