Shehla Rashid sedition case: Delhi Police records complainant's statement

The Special Cell of the Delhi Police has recorded the statement of the complainant in connection with a case registered against activist Shehla Rashid under the sedition charges for accusing the Indian Army of human right violations in Jammu and Kashmir.

The statement of the complainant Alakh Alok Srivastava, who is also a Supreme Court lawyer, was recorded under section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) which involves the examination of witnesses by the police.

Srivastava also handed over the documents and evidences on whose basis he had made the complaint. He had sought Rashid's arrest for allegedly spreading fake news against the Army and government.

Rashid, who had recently announced her disassociation from the mainstream politics, had earlier, in a series of tweet accused the armed forces of indiscriminately picking up boys and ransacking houses in Jammu and Kashmir.

Rashid also claimed that in Shopian district, four men were called into the Army camp and "interrogated (tortured)". "A mic was kept close to them so that the entire area could hear them scream, and be terrorised. This created an environment of fear in the entire area," she wrote.

Srivastava, in his complaint, accused Rashid of deliberately and intentionally spreading "fake news" with the intention to "incite violence in the country". He said that she was trying to create unrest in Jammu and Kashmir and trying to promote disharmony, enmity, hatred and ill-will between different groups.

Following this, a case was registered by the police under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for offences including sedition, promoting enmity between different groups, breach of the peace and causing hurt to a soldier.

Rashid was, however, granted interim protection by the court after her lawyer asserted that she is ready to join the investigation.

The Public prosecutor also submitted that the police has not received any complaint from the Army and sought more time to investigate the complaint.