Delhi Minorities Commission (DMC) Chairman Zafarul Islam Khan, who is facing a sedition case over a tweet he posted last month, approached the High Court on Friday seeking anticipatory bail. The High Court will consider the plea on May 12 after Mr. Khan’s counsel Vrinda Grover appealed for an urgent hearing.
Mr. Khan, 72, has been serving as the DMC chief since July 2017. In his plea, Mr. Khan stated that he suffers from heart disease and hypertension and was highly susceptible to COVID-19, which can be fatal for a person of his age and health condition.
On April 30, the Delhi police had registered a case under Sections 124A (sedition) and 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) against Mr. Khan over a complaint received from a Delhi resident who alleged that he “made a social media post on Twitter and Facebook (on April 28), and the contents of the post are provocative, intended to cause disharmony and create a rift in society”.
In his petition, Mr. Khan said the FIR was “misconceived, being made on a misrepresentation of facts and an erroneous, untenable reading of the law”.
Defending his stand on the social media post, Mr. Khan said his tweet highlighted the plight of the minority population which had been targeted by certain elements in society, and further acknowledged the role of the international fraternity in raising concerns regarding the well-being of Indian Muslims.
“Viewed as a whole, the statement does not allude to any tendency, leave alone incitement, of violence against the government or any section of the population... The social media post only refers to ‘Hindutva bigots’, which is not a religious group or community, but instead refers in this context to persons on social media posting hate speech and propagating communal disharmony,” read the plea.
Earlier in the day, another Bench of the High Court asked authorities to consider the representation of a man seeking removal of Mr. Khan as DMC chief for his allegedly “inflammatory and threatening statements” against the majority community.
Mr. Khan contended that as a “public-spirited individual and a distinguished member of the Muslim community” he has consistently spoken out against attacks, persecution and discrimination against the Muslim community.
“The registration of an FIR on such a frivolous, unsubstantiated and ambiguous complaint for a tweet, reveals that the petitioner [Mr. Khan] is being targeted for his views and his work,” he added. While expressing his willingness to cooperate with the investigation, Mr. Khan had told the police about his inability to leave his residence because of his old age. He cited Section 160 CrPC which mandates that a person above the age of 65 cannot be compelled to appear in the police station, and that all proceedings may be carried out at his residence.
The police has, however, still asked me to bring my laptop and mobile to the Cyber Cell in Dwarka on May 8, he added.
