“It is disturbing to see a theory emerging which treats the supporters of the protesters as the source of violence”: Prof. Apoorvanand
India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI, AUGUST 4—Delhi Police Special Cell conducting investigations with a view to finding out the link between the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the Northeast Delhi violence questioned Delhi University Professor Apoorvanand for five hours on Monday and also seized his mobile phone.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Prof. Apoorvanand said that he was interrogated for five hours. “I spent five hours there”, he said in the statement.
However, he did not give any detail about the questions asked from him or the information sought by the police. Prof. Apoorvanand could not be contacted as his mobile was confiscated by the police and his landline phone number went unattended.
“The Delhi Police also considered it necessary to seize my phone for the purpose of investigation”, said the Professor.
Prof. Apoorvanand hoped that the police investigation would focus on the “real investigators and perpetrators of the violence against peaceful citizens’ protest and the people of Northeast Delhi”.
“While cooperating and respecting the right of police authorities to conduct a full, fair and thorough investigation, one can only hope that the probe would focus on the “real investigators and perpetrators of the violence against peaceful citizens’ protest and the people of Northeast Delhi”, he said further in his statement.
He also hoped that the probe should not lead to “further harassment and victimization of the protesters and their supporters, who asserted their democratic rights through constitutional means while stating their dissent to the passage of the CAA, 2019 and the decision of the Government of India to operationalize the National Population Register (NPR) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) all over the country”.
He said that “it is disturbing to see a theory emerging which treats the supporters of the protesters as the source of violence”.
“I would urge the police and expect their probe to be thorough, just and fair so that truth prevails”, he said.
Prof. Apoorvanand was among those influential intellectuals who had fully supported the peaceful agitation to demand withdrawal of CAA, NRC and NPR.
His name also figured in one of the chargesheets, alongwith those of activist Yogendra Yadav and others, in Northeast Delhi riots filed by the Delhi Police Crime Branch.
