Actor-activist Deep Sindhu, who was arrested for his alleged role in the Red Fort violence on January 26, through his lawyers told a court in Delhi that “raising the flag” is not a crime and that he had committed an “error” from waiting for a Facebook directly in Fort Fort.
Special Judge Neelofer Abida Perveen, who was hearing Sidhu’s plea on Thursday, adjourned the case to a further hearing on 12 April.
He further stated that he did not incite anyone to cause violence and was only exercising his ‘fundamental right’ to protest.
“There is no discussion of a conspiracy. I (Sidhu) am a popular face, hence this issue. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was there for peaceful protest. ”
“The right to protest is a fundamental right, so I was there. “Neither did I enjoy the violence, nor did I encourage anyone to enjoy the violence,” said Sidhu.
Sidhu was arrested on February 9 in connection with the Red Cross violence on Republic Day during a parade of farmer tractors against the Center’s three new agricultural laws.
The lawyer told the court that the protest was called by the union of various farmers and that he did not urge anyone to go to the Red Castle.
“I (the accused) is not a member of any farmers’ union. From me no call was made for any tractor rally or to go to Red Fort. There is no evidence that I have mobilized people.
“I came to the Red Castle much later. “I was not present in any of the places to break the barricade,” the lawyer claimed for the accused.
The lawyer claimed that the accused arrived at Red Fort only at 12 noon.
“I was in a ‘dhaba’ in Murthal until around 12:00, and I arrived in Forta Kuqe only at 2:05 PM. A large crowd had already gathered at the Red Castle when I got there.
“The whole thing – the location for the cell phone, the road, etc. – have been verified. I am not content with a single act of violence. “I left before the violence broke out,” he said.
The lawyer told the court that Sidhu’s implication was a classic case trial by the media and added that the accused left before the violence started.
He also said that the accused should be given relief due to equality as some other accused in this case have already been given bail.
“I am the only one who earns bread in the family,” he said.
The prosecution objected to the conditional request, claiming that the accused incited others to violence.
“Hundreds of police officers were injured. Swords, sticks, etc. were used. Protesters tried to crush police under tractors. It all started only after the erection of ‘Nishan Sahib’ in the Red Castle, for which the accused had instigated. Just to slander the country all over the world, the accused went to Red Fort. “In the name of fundamental rights, they created violence,” police said.
However, the court asked the police to produce evidence to show that the accused incited the crowd.
The court adjourned the case to April 12 for further arguments and instructed both parties to submit various documents, including transcripts of the videos cited by Delhi police as evidence.
Police had announced a reward of money from a Rs loop for the information that led to Sidhu’s arrest.
After the Jan. 26 violence that left 500 security personnel injured and a protester dead, Sidhu was posting videos on social media, police said.
“Sidhu was in contact with a female friend who lives in California. He made videos and sent them to her, and she uploaded them to his Facebook account,” she said.
On January 26, thousands of protesting farmers who reached ITO from the Ghazipur border clashed with police, the agency claimed in the FIR registered in connection with the Red Fort violence, adding that many of them driving tractors reached the Red Fort and entered monument where a religious flag was also raised.
In the FIR, police said two magazines with 20 live cartridges were hijacked by two police officers by protesters who also damaged vehicles and looted anti-riot equipment.
With PTI entrances
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