The Delhi High Court bench of Justice Swara Kanta Sharma recently partially set aside the order discharging the accused in Jamia Millia Islamia Violence in December 2019 which included Sharjeel Imam, Safoora Zargaar, Asif Iqbal Tanha and several others.

In the matter at hand few student of Jamia Millia Islamia and few locals of the the region staged a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) but the protest became violent in nature and the police resultantly intervened and the violence reached the campus as well. Accordingly the Delhi police named 12 people as accused in the matter. Some of the changes against them were under the provisions of Indian Penal Code including sections 143, 147, 149, 186, 353, 427 and certain provisions of Prevention of Damage to Public Properties Act.

Earlier the trial court had come down heavily on the Delhi Police for the ill conceived charge sheet and discharged 11 out of the 12 accused. That court said that the police was unable to apprehend the actual perpetrators behind the commission of the offence but have surely managed to rope the persons herein as scapegoats.

Aggrieved by the same, the Delhi police approached the Delhi high court to expunge the remarks made by the trial court against the police but the High Court refused to do the same. The high court further observed that while there is no denial of the right to freedom of expression, this court remains aware of it’s duty and has tried to decide the issue in that way. The court further said that the right to peaceful assembly is subject to restriction and damage to property and peace is not protected.The high court partially set aside the orders of the trial court.