Asif Tanha, a member of the Students’ Islamic Organisation (SIO) and a student of the Jamia Milia Islamia University, has been arrested by the Delhi Police. He was an active participant in the violent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the NRC. As per reports, he was arrested over alleged involvement in December 15, 2019 violence in the national capital.
Last year, an FIR was also lodged against the student leader for his alleged violent involvement in the riots at the national capital in the month of December. Allegedly, he was called for questioning a day prior to his eventual arrest.
In the FIR, SHO Upender Singh had said, “All the protesters blocked Mathura Road and also turned violent. They started damaging public property and several DTC buses were set on fire. They were asked to calm down, but they started raising slogans and blocked the campus’s gates 4, 7 and 8.” “We tried asking them to clear the road, but they started damaging public property and started pelting stones. Several police personnel fired gas shells, which agitated them. They then started pelting stones from within the university campus,” said Singh.
The SIO and the anti-CAA protests
The Students Islamic Organization (SIO) played a prominent role in the recent anti-CAA riots that were unleashed all across the country. Shiyas Perumathura, the husband of Jamia ‘Shero’ Ladeeda Sakhaloon who had given a call for Jihad and glorified the genocidal maniacs responsible for the Moplah Massacre of Hindus, is a secretary at the SIO. The SIO was founded by Jamaat-e-Islami in 1982 after the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) broke away from it in 1981. SIO Maharashtra chief Salman Ahmed was detained for making provocative comments during an anti-CAA gathering in Nanded in February, days before the anti-Hindu riots in Delhi.
Asif Tanha and the SIO
Asif Tanha’s links to the SIO becomes evident from his Facebook profile. According to his profile on Facebook, he is an ex-finance secretary of the SIO at JMI. He has made numerous posts where he has shared statements made by the Islamist organisation. He shared a post by SIO where the organisation condemned the ‘vilification’ campaign against the Tablighi Jamaat. It is pertinent to mention here that the Jamaat has emerged as the largest Coronavirus vector in the country and its members have harassed female healthcare staff sexually, spit on doctors, healthcare staff and policemen alike and made all efforts to avoid being quarantined.
Arrests made in anti-CAA Riots case
Safoora Zargar, a member of the Jamia Coordination Committee, was arrested in connection with her alleged involvement in the anti-CAA riots. Her arrest has led to a barrage of propaganda accusing the Delhi Police of ‘anti-Muslim’ bias. The Delhi Police had recently slammed far-left propagandists at The Wire for making such dubious allegations.
Earlier, Meeran Haider, also a member of the Jamia Coordination Committee, was arrested by Delhi Police. He was arrested on the 2nd of April in connection with rioting and criminal conspiracy pertaining to anti-Hindu riots in north-east Delhi that have claimed the lives of 53 people and left over 400 injured. Meeran Haider is also the president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal youth wing’s Delhi unit.
Asif Tanha is the latest to be arrested over the riots.
