Argument that women were put in front of CAA/NRC protest as part of conspiracy is problematic: Rebecca John to Delhi High Court

Senior Advocate Rebecca John told the Delhi High Court on Monday that Delhi Police’s assertion that women and children were used as shield in the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) as part of a conspiracy is ‘terribly problematic’..John argued that this argument appears throughout the chargesheet filed by the Delhi Police in the Delhi riots conspiracy case and suggests that women have no agency and knew nothing about what they were fighting for.“I take strong objection to it. This is as if women have no agency. This is a terribly problematic remark which appears throughout the chargesheet. It is as if they (protesting women) are brainless women who do not know what to fight for,” the lawyer said..John was making her submissions before a division bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Rajnish Bhatnagar in the bail appeal filed by founder of United Against Hate, Khalid Saifi.Saifi has challenged a lower court order denying him bail in the Delhi riots conspiracy case. The Delhi Police has charged Saifi with several offences under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) as well as criminal conspiracy under Indian Penal Code (IPC)..John argued that Khureji Khas protest site, from where Saifi was arrested, was not the site of communal violence but the place where there was a clash between the police and protesters and that is why his co-accused (Ishrat Jahan) got bail in the case.“Khureji was the site of police action against peaceful protesters and not the other way round,” she said..The Senior Advocate further said that even if it is admitted that a meeting took place between Saifi, Umar Khalid and Tahir Hussain at Shaheen Bagh, the protected witnesses’ statement does not reveal what was discussed in the meeting.She further said that the same statement was used against Saifi in another case and the trail court granted him bail.“Without pressure of UAPA, the court examined this and came to the finding that I can be released on bail. But the moment UAPA is imposed, the court comes to the conclusion that this was a grave conspiracy,” it was submitted. .John also argued that the WhatsApp messages which are being used by the Police to point to the conspiracy behind riots cannot be read in isolation and if they are, then the Court also has to look at messages which reveal that Saifi was tortured in custody..The Court will now hear the arguments on Tuesday.