Human rights activist Nadeem Khan was booked by the Delhi police on November 30. An FIR was filed against Khan, the national secretary of the Association for the Protection of Civil Rights (APCR), after a video, titled “Records of Hindustan in Modi Sarkar’” was uploaded on YouTube. The police notice, under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, pertains to promoting enmity between groups.
The police claimed that the person speaking in the video was Khan. “Khan has spoken in the video (despite knowing) this is a sensitive issue and that organising an exhibition on a public platform, creating a museum… putting up photos of well-known public personalities, making allegations, and portraying a particular community as oppressed can incite people and promote separatist activities,” the FIR said.
The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), expressing its outrage, condemned the “malicious FIR”, which it described as “a targeted witch-hunt”.
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It said in a statement: “On Saturday, around 5 pm, four personnel, including the SHO [Station House Office] of Shaheen Bagh Police Station in Delhi, came to the private residence in Bengaluru where Khan was staying and attempted to detain him without any warrant or notice. From 5 pm till 9 pm, they sat in the hall of the first floor of the house and coerced Nadeem to come to Delhi ‘voluntarily’ with them under ‘informal custody’.” It added that “[t]hese actions constitute a blatant attack on freedom of speech and an attempt to criminalise the advocacy of civil liberties and constitutional rights”.
The PUCL demanded that the FIR be immediately quashed, the harassment of Khan and his family be stopped and that they be paid a compensation; the organisation called for an FIR against the SHO of Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh Police station for criminal intimidation, harassment, and trespassing.
Meanwhile, APCR stated the video did not contain unlawful speech and alleged that the FIR was “another attempt to intimidate and silence human right defenders”. The statement added that the FIR filed by the Delhi Police “is based on a social media post that has used a video of Nadeem Khan speaking at an exhibition put up by APCR. The video itself does not show any unlawful speech or activity, and we categorically deny any suggestion that the exhibition contained any kind of illegality. In fact, the exhibition was an attempt to showcase the positive rulings and orders of the Supreme Court and other courts in India that have sought to curb hate crimes and persecution of marginalised groups in the country”.
