The Delhi High Court on Wednesday protected Mohammad Wasiq Nadeem Khan, the National Secretary of Association for Protection of Civil Rights (ACPR), from arrest in a case involving allegations of promoting enmity and criminal conspiracy.
Justice Jasmeet Singh also directed that in case the Delhi Police needs his custody, they will give him seven days of advance notice in writing.
"The petitioner shall not leave Delhi-NCR without the permission of the Court," the Bench further ordered.
The Court was hearing two petitions by Khan seeking stay on investigation and the quashing of a first information report (FIR) against Khan citing the offences of promoting enmity and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony, public mischief and criminal conspiracy.
Earlier, the Court had granted interim protection from arrest to Khan.
During the hearing, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Khan, submitted that he has joined investigation and will continue to do so.
Sibal also said the police under the garb of investigation should not harass Khan, and that they should conclude the probe expeditiously.
Calling the investigation a roving inquiry, Sibal also objected to the police demand for access to Khan's phone "to check everything that I (Khan) have done in my life."
The Court found some merit in the concern raised, but added that the Police has a right to investigate the case.
"They are entitled to investigate. They are investigating. Your right to liberty is protected, you are not being arrested," Justice Singh observed.
Meanwhile, Delhi Police assured the Court that Khan would not be arrested and in case of any requirement for custodial interrogation, an advance notice will served on him.
Meanwhile, the Court also quashed a non-bailable warrant issued against Khan, considering that he has joined the investigation.
Khan had earlier been summoned by Delhi Police in relation to a video put up on social media relating to an exhibition by ACPR in Hyderabad.
According to Indian Express, the video showed a person who had set up a stall at an exhibition and standing in front of multiple display boards.
The FIR against Khan says that the person seen in the video was gesturing towards a banner and talking about ‘Nadeem, Akhlaq, Rohit Vemula, Pehlu Khan’, and the 2020 CAA/ NRC protests at Shaheen Bagh and the Delhi riots, portraying a particular community as victims and inciting people.
On analysing this video, the police said it found that the display stall was set up by APCR and the person in the video was Khan.
Khan has claimed that the theme of the video is regarding minority rights, hate speech and discrimination.
In his plea, he contended that he has not made any false comment in the video that could incite disharmony and that he was well within his fundamental rights to free speech under Article 19 of the Indian Constitution.
While seeking protection from arrest, he added that the FIR against him does not contain any offence punishable for more than three years.
It was also submitted that no adverse incident has occurred due to his video and no complaint was made by anyone that could lead to registration of an FIR.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal and advocates Tara Narula, Tamanna Pankaj, Shivangi Sharma, Ahmed Ibrahim, Rupali Samuel, Shahrukh Alam, Deeksha Dwivedi and Ritesh Dhar Dubey appeared for Khan.
Standing Counsel Sanjay Lao and Additional Standing Counsel Sanjeev Bhandari represented the Delhi Police.