A day after Aam Aadmi Party MLA, Amanatullah Khan, was arrested for protesting against an anti-encroachment drive, the Delhi Police on Friday, 13 May, said that he had been declared as declared as a "Bad Character" in March this year.
Khan was declared as a "history-sheeter" on 30 March, and 18 FIRs have been levelled against the politician so far, the Delhi Police was cited as saying by news agency ANI.
The 30 March order, signed by the station house officer of Jamia Nagar, reads:
"As Amanatullah Khan has become a habitual criminal and has been involved in land grabbing and hurt offences and the prosecution made against him have failed to deter him from his criminal activities, his activities need to be kept under surveillance."
A day after his arrest, several shops in Okhla constituency from where he is elected, remained shut on Thursday to mark their protest over the police action. Notably, the ruling AAP government in Delhi has refrained from remarking on the arrest of its leader, drawing criticism for its silence.
Why Was Amanatullah Khan Arrested?
Khan, who had intervened in South Delhi Municipal Corporation's anti-encroachment drive in Madanpur Khadar area on Thursday, was arrested along with five others for "rioting and obstructing public servants in discharge of duty," as per the Delhi police. He was subsequently sent to judicial custody in Tihar jail.
The AAP MLA had claimed that there was not a single encroachment in the area where the drive was being conducted. He was arrested after incidents of stone-pelting were reported during protests over the bulldozing.
He had also participated in protests over a demolition drive scheduled for 9 May at Delhi's Shaheen Bagh, which was not conducted after locals and party workers demonstrated against the MCD's bulldozers. This comes amid a spate of such demolition drives in the national capital.
Meanwhile, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Friday said that the BJP plans to demolish the homes of 70 percent of the city's population. Sisodia said that he has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah urging him to stop the recent spate of demolitions in the national capital during the anti-encroachment drives under the BJP-ruled civic body.
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