Even though India is currently battling the coronavirus epidemic, and the horrific Delhi riots seem like a distant memory, the causes behind the violence are slowly being uncovered.
A Jamia Milia Islamia PhD scholar has been arrested by a Special Cell of Delhi Police for allegedly hatching a conspiracy to incite a mob during the north-east Delhi riots last month. Meeran Haider, 35, was the head of Delhi youth wing of RJD and was allegedly the administrator of some WhatsApp groups, which were used to organise goons from parts of western UP dur ing the riots. Haider was called for questioning at the Special Cell’s Lodhi Colony office on Wednesday night and arrested late at night, reported TOI.
Police sources said that Haider’s mobile phone, from which the WhatsApp groups were being operated, had been seized . Sources said that around 10pm, a team of cops came to Haider’s residence to inquire about him, after which he was detained from the locality. Police sources said that Haider, along with a few of his associates, allegedly mobilised around 60 people who were involved in the riots. He was also allegedly present in the Chand Bagh area during the riots.
Haider will now be taken to the riot hit areas to establish this. Haider’s associates too would be questioned regarding their roles during the riots. The Special Cell and the Crime Branch had been roped in. Haider was the former convenor of the Jamia Students Forum. Meanwhile, members of the student body, Jamia Coordination Committee, claimed that Haider was visiting the riot-hit areas for relief work and had been arranging food and clothing for the riot victims.
There had been other links between educaational institutions and the violence in Delhi. Sharjeel Imam, a student at JNU, had been one of the chief organizers of the Shaheen Bagh protest. He had been arrested after he’d claimed during a speech that Assam should be cut off from the rest of India. Another former JNU student, Umar Khalid, had issued an appeal for CAA protesters to hit the streets when Donald Trump was in India, exactly when the violence had begun in the Delhi riots.
