On Friday, in what was a fascinating exchange occured between the Bench and counsel during the hearing of Khalid Saifi, one of the accused in connection to the February 2020 Delhi communal violence, Bar and Bench reported.
In a Delhi court, during the hearing, Saifi addressed the Court of Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat directly and said, “if using Assalam-o-Alaikum is against the law, then he should stop using it.”
This statement from Khalid comes after the prosecution’s argument in Sharjeel Imam’s case.
On September 1, the prosecution submitted that the fact that Imam while protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act began one of his speeches with ‘Assalam-o-alaikum’ depicted that the speech was addressed to a particular community and not the the public at large.
“I read in the papers something on starting a speech with Assalam-o-alaikum, is it a law? I should stop if it is illegal,” Saifi said.
However, the Court clarified that “it was not the word of the Court, it was a submission made by the prosecution.”
Referring to the voluminous chargesheet filed by the Delhi Police in the case, Saifi also said that he would move the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
“When I come out I will file a case against Delhi Police in NGT. They wasted 2 million papers in filing chargesheet,” he said.
The Court, on Friday, heard the application filed by Saifi, which pointed out that he had earlier been produced before the wrong court.