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India Gate Protest: With the arrival of winter season, the situation of air pollution in Delhi-NCR has become serious. A few days ago, some protesters had gathered at India Gate against pollution. Suddenly slogans started being raised in support of Madvi Hidma, who was killed in an encounter with security forces. Delhi Police has now made a big claim in this matter.
India Gate Protest: Did the protesters who demonstrated against pollution at India Gate take training from anywhere? Had the accused participated in the conference of any banned student organization? Delhi Police has made a shocking claim regarding this in the court. Police said that some protesters had participated in a conference organized by the banned Radical Students Union. It was organized in Hyderabad earlier this year. The police demanded the custody of the arrested accused from the court and said that it is necessary to conduct further investigation after new evidence comes to light. On the other hand, the lawyer appearing on behalf of the arrested students said that keeping the students in custody for a long time will adversely affect their education.
Delhi Police told the court on Saturday that some of the protesters arrested for spraying pepper on the police during the protest against pollution at India Gate had attended the meeting of the banned Radical Students Union (RSU) in Hyderabad in February this year. In the court of Judicial Magistrate Aridman Singh Cheema, the police opposed the bail of six accused saying that they have video evidence of this.
What is the allegation of the police?
New Delhi district DCP Dinesh Mahala told the court that many videos found on social media point towards Naxal support of the accused. Police said that it is necessary to interrogate the accused on the basis of new evidence and if they get bail, they can influence the witnesses. The government lawyer also said that the investigation team wants to know on whose instructions the protesters raised slogans in favor of Maoist leader Madvi Hidma who was killed in the encounter.
What questions did the accused raise?
Lawyers for the accused said the police did not have any concrete evidence yet and the students had already got bail in another similar case. Lawyer Abhinav Sekhri argued that keeping pepper spray does not prove that there was a conspiracy to attack the police. He said that prolonged detention will affect the education and career of the students.
Students arrested in India Gate Protest case. (File photo/PTI)
What is the stand of the court?
The court has postponed the hearing till Monday. Along with this, a supplementary report was sought from the police on the role of each accused. Later, the police produced eight other protesters before Duty Metropolitan Magistrate Anjali Singh and sought 7 days of police custody, but the court sent all of them to two days of judicial custody.
What has happened so far?
A total of 23 protesters have been arrested in two separate cases in the India Gate Protest case. 17 people were arrested in connection with the clash that took place at Sansad Marg police station. 6 protesters have been arrested on charges of pepper spray in the case of Kartavya Path police station. Out of these, 15 accused of the Sansad Marg case have been re-arrested by the police in the Kartavya Path case. Of these, 7 were formally arrested on 25 November and 8 on Friday.
When was the Radical Students Union banned?
Now the question arises that what is the history of Radical Students Union and when did it come into existence? The murder of young student leader George Reddy in Osmania University, Hyderabad in April 1972 shook the politics and student movements of the entire state. The allegation was that Reddy was targeted by a right-wing group. His assassination kept the campus in turmoil for months and from the ashes of this turmoil the Radical Students Union (RSU) was born on 20 February 1975. The government banned this organization in 1992.
