To Mobilize The Crowd, Artists Were Used: Delhi Riots

To mobilize the crowd, a group of artists was being called at the picketing sites, the drumming was being done, know what it meant: Delhi riots.

Opposing the bail application of former JNU student Umar Khalid in the Delhi riots conspiracy case.

Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad told the court that the conspirators were not getting the support of the local people during the protest.

To mobilize the crowd, they were calling groups of artists at the dharnas and doing ‘Dramabaji’.

As soon as the then US President’s arrival in Delhi was confirmed on 11 February 2020, the conspirators adopted a new strategy of protest by stopping the ‘dramabaazi’.

In this regard, he presented the WhatsApp group chats of the alleged conspirators in the court of Additional Sessions, Judge Amitabh Rawat, on Saturday.

Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad told the court that the various sit-ins in North-East Delhi before the riots were not genuine.

Arguing that if the strike site was real, local people would have been involved in it.

It is evident from the chats of the alleged conspirators that these sit-ins were being managed through various other groups including the Delhi Protest Support Group (DPSG) formed on WhatsApp.

To keep his point more factual, he showed some such chats of DPSG, in which the information of the picketing sites was being updated from time to time.

Through similar chats in different WhatsApp groups, he added the link between them. He also showed how the alleged conspirators worked out strategies along the timeline.

When the court asked where is Umar Khalid in this, the prosecutor said that Umar Khalid was included in the group of DPSG.

Amit Prasad said that different groups of conspirators were allegedly doing their jobs at the sit-ins.

The United Against Hate group was monitoring several picketing sites including Khureji and Kardampuri.

Every movement was updated on the respective WhatsApp group, portions of which were visible in DPSG. He said that many messages were said in code words.

For example, he showed the use of the word ‘Savitri-Fatima’, which was used when referring to women in chat.

Along with this, the Special Public Prosecutor also opposed the bail application of many other accused in this case.