Earlier this week, a Delhi court framed charges against the 2020 Delhi riot accused Shahrukh Pathan who had fired bullets at head constable Deepak Dahiya during the Anti-Hindu riots that had convulsed Northeast Delhi last year.
Social media websites were awash with pictures of Shahrukh Pathan brandishing a gun at Delhi Police Head Constable Deepak Dahiya had surfaced on social media during the communal riots last year. He was arrested on March 3, 2020, and is currently lodged in Tihar Jail.
Terming it not an ordinary case of individuals or groups committing unlawful acts, the court said that “these riots are of such a nature as has not been witnessed since the Sikh Riots of 1984.”
While framing the charges, the court said it was quite conspicuous that Pathan spearheaded a group of rioters, attempted on Dahiya’s life, obstructed and used criminal force on a public servant on February 24, 2020.
The judge charged Pathan under sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting armed with a deadly weapon), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of duty), and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the IPC.
Besides, charges were also framed under sections 353 (assault), 307 (attempt to murder) read with section 149 (member of unlawful assembly guilty of a common offence) of the IPC and various sections of the Arms Act, to which he pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.
While the Delhi court framed charges against Shahrukh Pathan, it is worth noting how NDTV journalist Ravish Kumar tried to pass him off as one Anurag Mishra and how The Quint tried to whitewash his Islamist inclinations and made a shoddy attempt to humanise him.
Ravish Kumar spreads misinformation about the identity of the Delhi riots accused Shahrukh Pathan
In his show ‘Prime Time’ on 26th February 2020, Ravish Kumar resorted to spreading half-truths and full lies about the horrifying spate of violence that had engulfed the national capital. In pursuance of what appeared as his agenda to tarnish Hindus and portray them as the aggressors of the riots, Kumar identified Mohammad Shahrukh alias Shahrukh Pathan, who fired at Delhi Police personnel on February 24, as one ‘Anurag Mishra’.
For the 26th February show, Ravish claimed that police had not yet arrested him while he was arrested on 25th February itself, good 24 hours before his show premiered. “Police ki haalat yeh hai ki abhi tak giraftar nahin hua hai. Police saaf kehti hai ki Shahrukh hai magar aap social media mein dekhiye Anurag Mishra bataya jaa raha hai. (Situation of the Police is such that they have not yet arrested him. Police says his name is Shahrukh but if you see on social media, he is called Anurag Mishra),” he spoke in his characteristic drawl during the show. Naturally, it was quite a revelation since no one had yet referred to the shooter as “Anurag Mishra” till then.
He then asked Delhi Police to speak out on his identity again. He then played an undated speech of his reporter who appeared to be asking Delhi Police personnel about Shahrukh’s arrest. Slyly, Ravish Kumar then played the videos of BJP leaders Anurag Thakur, Kapil Mishra and Pravesh Verma addressing rallies ahead of Delhi elections to cast aspersions that their speeches were responsible for stoking riots a month later.
The Quint humanise Shahrukh, whitewash his Islamist tendencies
In August 2021, 18 months after the 25-year-old Delhi anti-Hindu riots accused Shahrukh Pathan was arrested for brandishing a gun at the police and threatening them, The Quint published a white paper on him watering down his crime and making him appear like a cherubic saint.
The Quint started by describing his menacing march as ‘brazen confidence in his gait’. Then the writer of the ‘Shahrukh Pathan fan page’ romanticised his criminal act. “Unfazed by the policemen in riot gear, he shot bullets in the air while media persons captured his acts in astonishment. The fact that the gym enthusiast, who was also a local, did not wear a mask to hide his identity, made his ‘bravado’ seem peculiar and odd,” the author wrote.
The Quint then went on to explain how his friends described Shahrukh as someone who was into grooming and was interesting in his appearance. He was characterised as someone who was a biryani-lover, liked to put gel in his hair, blow dry them, wear crisp, ironed shirts, good shoes and well, make TikTok videos. The author interviewed Pathan’s mother, who obviously had glowing views about her son. She said her son was innocent and ‘simple-minded’.
Shahrukh’s mother also highlighted counterfactual scenarios in order to water down her son’s criminality. She told his fans at The Quint that she often wonders, “What if she had given him food when he asked? What if the timing was a few minutes before or after namaz?” Because, who knows, the biryani might have stopped him from participating in riots, eh?
