After publicly subscribing to the secessionist ideology of Sharjeel Imam, who had urged Muslims to cut off North-East India from the rest of the country by blocking the Chicken’s Neck, Newslaundry columnist Sharjeel Usmani today glorified Islamist Shahrukh Pathan, accused of opening fire on Delhi police during the anti-Hindu riots that had broken out in the national capital in the last week of February this year.
Sharing an article which said that the accused Shahrukh Pathan, who intended to be a hero by taking up arms during the anti-CAA riots in Delhi will have to face the law, Usmani lavished praises on the accused rioters, saying that he is proud of Shahrukh, who ‘fought for his community’ (Muslims) when the entire state machinery and ‘Hindutva army’ was apparently ‘killing and looting’ them.
“I am proud of Shahrukh Bhai. he fought for the community when the entire state machinery and Hindutva army was involved in killing and looting our community. He is our hero!” tweeted Sharjeel Usmani.
The tweet was posted by Usmani after the Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to grant relief to the accused—Shahrukh Pathan—and observed that while Pathan’s intentions were to become to hero but he will now have to face the consequences of taking up arms against the Delhi police. Justice Suresh Kumar Kait said he was not disposed to grant relief to Shahrukh Pathan, after which his counsel withdrew the plea.
Delhi High Court refused Pathan’s pleas for bail
The court dismissed the plea as withdrawn. The advocate representing Shahrukh had sought bail for his client on the grounds that he had to take care of his ailing 76-year-old father who is not well and has no one to look after him. Justice Kait then said, “While committing offence, you forget everyone. Now you are thinking about your aged and ailing parents.”
However, denial of reprieve from the Delhi High Court did not sit well with the Newslaundry columnist Sharjeel Usmani, who not only shares his first name with the secessionist Sharjeel Imam but also subscribes to his radical ideology. Notwithstanding court verdict in the case, Usmani took to Twitter to rationalise Shahrukh Pathan’s unlawful acts by claiming that he stood up against the imaginary “state machinery and Hindutva army” that were involved in killing and looting his community.
In sharing his radical ideas and praising a criminal, Usmani perhaps forgot that the CCTV had captured Pathan’s criminal act when he was firing multiple rounds on a Delhi police official Deepak Dahiya while Dahiya was armed only with a baton, and stood unflinching as Pathan kept on firing his illegal weapon.
Sharjeel Usmani’s propaganda war to tarnish India’s reputation abroad
Earlier too, Usmani had no qualms in associating himself with those accused of making provocative and seditious speeches under the pretext of carrying out peaceful protests against the CAA. The ideological compatriot of Sharjeel Imam, Sharjeel Usmani, has announced his intentions of using Muslims as the fifth columns in the country to undermine Indian interests. Shortly after Imam’s arrest, Usmani waged a propaganda war on the country to smear its India’s image abroad. Sharjeel Usmani announced that he, along with two of his friends, will put English subtitles on the videos of ‘hate crimes’ against Muslims in India to circulate them among social media influencers for wider global reach.
After the incendiary speeches of Sharjeel Imam had gone viral on social media, Sharjeel Usmani had rushed in to defend him. He had urged Muslims to not disassociate themselves from the JNU scholar and declared that he was ‘in this together’ with the radical Islamist. Sharjeel Imam also played a critical role in organizing the Shaheen Bagh protests and weaponizing blockades in order to make the state bend to Islamist demands was his idea.
Mohammad Shahrukh alias Shahrukh Pathan had opened fire at Delhi Police
Mohammad Shahrukh or Sharukh Pathan was caught on video brandishing gun and firing bullets against the Delhi police personnel who were trying to subdue the violent riots that erupted in the national capital in February 2020. Shahrukh reportedly opened 8 rounds of fire on Delhi Police on February 24, the day US President Donald Trump was visiting India. He was later arrested by the police.
On the day of US President Donald Trump’s visit to India, the national capital had witnessed unprecedented violence. A Delhi police constable had lost his life in the riots that ensued in the national capital in wake of the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. Another DCP was grievously injured during clashes in Delhi’s Gokulpuri. An IB official, Ankit Sharma, was brutally murdered and his dead body was thrown in a drain. Another Hindu, Dilbar Negi, was brutalised by the rioters in Delhi as his limbs were chopped and his body was thrown in the fire. Similarly, the anti-Hindu riots in north-east Delhi also saw Hindu temples being attacked and vandalised by a rampaging mob.
