The Delhi Police told the Delhi High Court on Wednesday that the Shaheen Bagh protest, which took place from December 2019 to March 2020, was not a peaceful, spontaneous movement as some people had portrayed it. Instead, the police claimed it was a planned effort designed to incite large-scale violence. The protest, often referred to as a “nani, dadi protest” (elderly women’s protest), was described by the police as a façade. According to the police, the protest was orchestrated by Sharjeel Imam and Asif Mujtaba.
“The messages of 17.02.2020 on DPSG WhatsApp group unequivocally point at the incitement to violence wherein one Owais Sultan Khan clearly says ‘Your Proposal to Incite violence’ followed by another message ‘Itnaa samjh lo sirf ki violence nahin karne denge tumhe aur tumhare doston ko, bhai‘ (Better understand that we won’t let you or your friends incite violence). Thus, the message is loud and clear to reflect that it was not only a proposal to incite violence, rather they were themselves getting into violence along with their friends i.e., the conspirators and their friends,” the police told High Court.
According to the police, the protest sites were not chosen organically but were part of a deliberate strategy. They said that the protest was hyped as a “Dadi Nani protest,” and through their investigation, they claimed to have gathered enough evidence to prove the protest was artificial. The police also stated that Sharjeel Imam had communicated with his brother, Muzammil Imam, showing that the protests were masterminded by him and Mujtaba.
The police further said that the Shaheen Bagh protest lacked local support, which is why people from other areas, including students from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), were brought in. According to the police, a WhatsApp chat between Sharjeel Imam and Afreen Fatima on December 19, 2019, revealed that local residents opposed the protests, leading Imam to suggest bringing in people from outside.
Regarding the first phase of protests in 2019, the police said the lack of local mobilization was a key reason for its failure. To address this, a WhatsApp group called JACT was created to spread awareness, but it was restricted from organizing any activities. Over time, the group helped establish protest sites across Delhi. The police also claimed that the protest was given an “overly communal tag” due to its strong association with Muslim student groups from JNU, Jamia Millia Islamia, and Aligarh Muslim University. The police presented messages showing that “Sharjeel Imam wanted to maintain a Muslim identity” for the protest and suggested adding secular elements, such as a stall promoting Shashi Tharoor’s book “Why I Am Hindu,” to make the protest appear more inclusive.
“There are clear messages in MSJ where Sharjeel Imam says not to do over secularisation and maintain Muslim identity. In his speeches also, Sharjeel Imam clearly says that get Hindus to participate but on ‘our own terms’,” police said.
Sharjeel Imam was said to have stepped away from the Shaheen Bagh protest site but continued to support it from behind the scenes, such as by sending speakers and writing pamphlets. The police also said there was a lack of coordination between protest sites during the first phase, which they claimed was improved during the second phase.
The police pointed out that during the first phase, strong and effective police action helped prevent the escalation of violence. This action, they said, led to several rioters being named in FIRs and booked for rioting.
