‘Harmony of the nation is not so fragile’: Delhi HC grants interim protection to Nadeem Khan till December 6

Delhi High Court grants activist interim protection from arrest in case of promoting enmity, questions validity of FIR.

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday granted activist Nadeem Khan interim protection from arrest till December 6 in an alleged case of promoting enmity.

Delhi Police had on November 30 registered an FIR against Mr. Khan, the national secretary of the Association for Protection of Civil Rights, a human rights organisation, over a purported video that it said could “lead to violence at any time”.

Justice Jasmeet Singh orally remarked, “We are in a democratic country. The harmony of the nation is not so fragile. The common man isn’t so fragile that merely one exhibition will shake his conviction.”

“The country places great pride in our fundamental rights. Article 19(1)(a) is to be protected. If you think the common man will get incited by this, the common man does not have the IQ to understand what is right for them... Please have some faith in the common man,” the court said.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the activist, argued the FIR did not disclose any cognisable offence and was “merely based on conjectures”.

The police’s counsel alleged that Mr. Khan was “trying to raise a war inside the country”.

The court issued a notice to the police on the activist’s plea seeking to quash the FIR. It asked him to join the probe and not leave the city without the investigating officer’s permission. “Till the next date of hearing, (December 6) the petitioner shall not be arrested,” the court said.