We wondered why this was happening to us, say students discharged in Jamia case by Delhi court
Additional Sessions Judge Arul Varma of the Saket district court discharged JNU student Sharjeel Imam, student activists Asif Iqbal Tanha, Safoora Zargar, and eight others who were mainly students, underlining that "dissent is nothing but an extension of the invaluable fundamental right to freedom of speech".
3 min read
It also observed that police did not apprehend the "actual perpetrators" but "managed to rope" the accused persons as "scapegoats". (File) For former students of Jamia Millia Islamia who were discharged by a Delhi court on Saturday in a case connected to violence near the university in December 2019, relief came at the end of a long ordeal.
Additional Sessions Judge Arul Varma of the Saket district court discharged JNU student Sharjeel Imam, student activists Asif Iqbal Tanha, Safoora Zargar, and eight others who were mainly students, underlining that “dissent is nothing but an extension of the invaluable fundamental right to freedom of speech”. It also observed that police did not apprehend the “actual perpetrators” but “managed to rope” the accused persons as “scapegoats”.
Speaking to The Indian Express on Saturday, Tanha (26) said: “In about a year, we attended the proceedings nine times. Court dates fall on working days so for those of us who are working or studying, it has been difficult. Some of us were missing classes. From day one, we have been saying that the FIR shouldn’t have been against the students… We welcome the judgment and our faith in the judiciary has intensified with these strong observations. The court has said we were made scapegoats. After this judgment, there is hope in the other cases too, that we will get justice.”
He now works as a researcher in Delhi and added that he had applied to pursue a course in Pune and reconsidered his admission since cases remain pending. In 2021, the Delhi High Court granted bail to Tanha in a case under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
Shahzar Raza Khan (23), who is now enrolled as a student at the University of Hyderabad, said, “This has caused major churning in my life. I have not faced any court proceedings before this. I was learning Arabic and German then at the University of Hyderabad and would come from Hyderabad to Delhi to attend court proceedings. It was not a petty case and considering the charges, I was in no mental state to study or make plans to go abroad to study – something that I intended to do. Now that we’ve been discharged, we can look ahead and plan. The positive points now are the observations that the court has made on dissent. The anti-CAA protests were historic and changed a lot for us.”
Umair Ahmad (24), who is now studying law in Mumbai, said, “The protests happened and then the (Covid) lockdown. Then I was called for interrogation twice, and later summoned by the court. I had taken admission initially in Hyderabad and then moved to Mumbai to a better college. I would travel from Mumbai to Delhi for the court proceedings.”
Mohammad Qasim (26), who is now a journalist, said it was a traumatic experience “… it made it difficult for us to work. This was like an extra load that we had to take for no reason at all. We were students and when we were going to court, we would wonder why we needed to be there. We were forced to wonder for three years why this was happening to us. There were worries about my career, on what would happen…”
You May Like
Photos
