Hours after the arrest of activist Umar Khalid in connection to the northeast Delhi violence, BJP leader Kapil Mishra on Monday, 14 September, congratulated the Delhi Police on their action, saying that people like Khalid, Tahir Hussain and Khalid Saifi among others had brought about a “planned massacre” and that “these terrorists and killers” should be hanged.
After interrogating the former JNU student and United Against Hate member for eleven hours on Sunday, the Delhi Police arrested Khalid under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) post-midnight, for his alleged role in the Delhi violence of February 2020.
Khalid had been named in several charge sheets and projected as the ‘mastermind’ and ‘conspirator’ of the riots. He came to Delhi from Kolkata back in August when he was summoned by Delhi Police special cell for the first time.
In a video, uploaded on his Twitter handle, Mishra also named Safoora Zargar, Saifi in what he called the planning of an orchestrated massacre with an aim to kill people in large numbers, and compared the violence in February in Delhi to a terrorist attack like 26/11.
Mishra claimed that there had been months of planning involved in the riots which resulted in people being killed and homes being burnt.
He also added that these “terrorists” being charged and arrested should be executed or imprisoned for life, for the people of Delhi to get the justice they are waiting for.
The Delhi Police had added the UAPA to the FIR related to northeast Delhi violence, which named Khalid, among others. In the FIR, the police had claimed that the communal violence was a “premeditated conspiracy” which was allegedly hatched by Khalid and two others.
The FIR alleged that Khalid had given provocative speeches at two different places and appealed to the citizens to come out on streets and block the roads during the visit of US President Donald Trump, to spread propaganda at the international level about how minorities in India are being persecuted.
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