AMN / NEW DELHI
The chairman of the Delhi Minorities Commission Zafarul Islam Khan has moved the Delhi High Court for anticipatory bail through his lawyers Vrinda Grover, Ratna Appnender and Soutik Banerjee. The case has been listed for May 12.
In the petition, he has sought to invoke Section 438 and Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure as Khan believes that his arrest is motivated and untenable in an absolutely frivolous case registered at the Lodi Colony special cell police station.
He has requested the court to ensure that his laptop, mobile phone are not seized and that no coercive action would be taken against him.
The Delhi police landed at Khan’s residence on Wednesday, May 6, a week after a sedition case was booked against himfor a post on social media expressing his thanks to Kuwait for highlighting the issues of Muslims in the country. The case filed by a Vasant Kunj resident invoked 124A (sedition) and 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, and doing acts to promote disharmony) of the Indian Penal Code.
His lawyer Vrinda Grover had stated that since Khan was 72-years-old, as per Section 160 of CrPC, the police cannot compel attendance of a person above 65 years age at any place other than their residence for the purpose of investigation and interrogation.
It was reported that a large number of policemen had reached Khan’s residence to arrest him, but Aam Aadmi Party MLA Amanatullah Khan, former Congress MLA Asif Mohammad Khan and several locals gathered in support of Khan at his residence. The police left soon.
In the petition at the High Court, he states that being the chairperson of the Delhi Minorities Commission (DMC), he has always worked with the Constitutional mandate of secularism, non-discrimination and equality. He has always taken a strong stand against communalism and the targeting of Indian Muslims on the basis of their religious identity.
Khan states that he has always condemned terrorism and violence in the name of Islam. Even in 2014, the petitioner was among the first to condemn and speak against the terrorist groups such as ISIS, ISIL, Al Qaeda and Boko Haram, states the petition.
