Anti-Muslim Slogans at Jantar Mantar: Delhi Police Files Charge Sheet

Close to three months after the inflammatory Delhi protest, the police have filed a charge sheet in the case.

The Delhi Police has filed a charge sheet regarding the raising of anti-Muslim slogans at an event at Jantar Mantar on 8 August 2021.

(Photo: Twitter/AshwiniUpadhyay)

The Delhi Police on Tuesday, 2 November, filed a charge sheet before a city court regarding the raising of anti-Muslims slogans at an event at Jantar Mantar on 8 August.

The final report was filed before Metropolitan Magistrate Prayank Nayak.

The Delhi Police has clarified that former BJP spokesperson Ashwini Upadhyay is among those who have been charge-sheeted in the case. The Delhi Police stated, "Some media outlets are running a news that Police didn't chargesheet Ashwani Upadhyay in Jantar Mantar hate speech case. This is factually incorrect. He has been chargesheeted along with 8 other persons. (sic)"

Flashback: What Had Happened on 8 August?

Hateful and inflammatory anti-Muslim slogans had been chanted at a protest gathering, which had been supposedly called to rally against colonial era laws.

Purported videos of the gathering, at which hundreds were in attendance, were widely circulated on social media. The videos showed a crowd of people shouting violence-inciting slogans in unison.

Who Are the Ones Who Were Arrested in the Case?

The following are some of the key individuals at the event who had been arrested by the Delhi Police in connection with the hateful anti-Muslim sloganeering on 8 August.

Ashwini Upadhyay

Supreme Court lawyer and former Delhi BJP spokesperson Ashwini Upadhyay, one of the alleged organisers of the Jantar Mantar event, had been sent to judicial custody on 10 August, two days after the event. On the same day, Deepak Singh Hindu, the head of a group called the Hindu Force, had also been arrested in the same case.

Upadhyay received bail on 11 August. He has denied knowledge of anti-Muslim sloganeering at his event, claiming that it happened after his rally had ended.

Pinky Chaudhary

Hindu Raksha Dal chief Bhupinder Tomar alias Pinky Chaudhary, one of the prime accused in the case of raising communal slogans at Delhi's Jantar Mantar, surrendered before the Delhi Police on Tuesday, 31 August.

(Photo altered by The Quint)

Pinky Chaudhary alias Bhupinder Tomar, the chief of an outfit called the Hindu Rakshak Dal, had surrendered to the Delhi Police on 31 August after evading arrest for several days. Chaudhary had been brought to the Mandir Marg police station by his supporters on their shoulders amid chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Pinky Bhaiyya Zindabad’.

A week before his surrender, a Delhi court had rejected Chaudhary's plea for anticipatory bail by stating, "We are not in a Taliban state. Rule of law is the sacrosanct governing principle in our plural and multicultural society. While the whole country is celebrating Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav, there are some minds still chained with intolerant and self centric beliefs.”

Chaudhary was eventually granted bail on 30 September.

Sushil Tiwari

Sushil Tiwari, the head of an outfit that calls itself the Hindu Army, had been arrested by the Delhi Police in connection with the Jantar Mantar event. Tiwari, 40, is a resident of Lucknow and was apprehended by the police at his house on 20 August, around a fortnight after the event.

The Indian Express reported that apart from raising slogans, Tiwari had also allegedly mobilised people for the event. A senior police officer told them that Tiwari was identified based on videos circulating on social media. "We found he was in Lucknow and sent a team there to arrest him."

Tiwari, who also works as a travel agent, frequented Delhi for work. "He received an invite to the event on a WhatsApp group and allegedly came to Jantar Mantar to join the other accused," an officer told The Indian Express.

Uttam Malik

Uttam (the one with the saffron cloth tied around his head) can be seen in several videos on social media, raising objectionable slogans against Muslims.

(Photo courtesy: Facebook/Uttam Upadhyay)

Uttam Malik, who also goes by the name Uttam Upadhyay, was spotted in multiple videos on social media, raising objectionable slogans against Muslims at the Jantar Mantar event. He was arrested by the Delhi Police on 25 August.

Malik belongs to an outfit named Bhagwadhari Yodha Sangh.