A team of Delhi Police returned empty-handed after facing protest at the Jamia Nagar residence of Delhi Minorities Commission Chairman Zafarul-Islam Khan against whom an FIR has been lodged for his alleged seditious and hateful acts.
Police have asked Khan to submit his mobile phone and laptop for forensics.
Local sources said that a police team arrived to raid Khan's residence just before Iftar, the time to break fast in Ramadan. However, they were forced to return after a crowd gathered outside his residence.
Earlier, his lawyer told the Delhi police as per the law the police cannot compel him to go to the police station for interrogation as he was above 65 years of age.
"The law as per section 160 Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) mandates that the police cannot compel attendance of a person above 65 years age at any place other than their residence for the purpose of investigation and interrogation. You are required as per law to question/interrogate Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan only in his residence and you cannot compel him to go to any police station," said his counsel Vrinda Grover.
"As Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan''s lawyer I am hereby placing on record that as per law you cannot compel him to go to the police station. That would violate the CrPC and amount to illegal police action against the rights of my Client," she said.
In the letter written to Cyber Cell of the Delhi police (Dwarka), Khan said he was a senior citizen of 72 years of age and it is risky for his health to report to the police station during these times of lockdown due to COVID-19.
He said that he was available to answer any question at his home during the daytime.
An FIR under IPC sections 124A (sedition) and 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) have been registered against Khan on a complaint by an individual citing his social media post where he thanked Gulf nations for taking note of the "persecution" of Muslims in India.
