The police told the Delhi High Court that human rights activist Nadeem Khan shared information selectively and misleadingly in an attempt to create a narrative portraying members of a “particular community” as victims of systematic oppression by the current government, Live Law reported on Tuesday.

The police made the allegations in a status report filed in the court in response to a petition by Khan demanding that a case against him be quashed.

The Delhi Police have accused Khan, the national secretary of the Association for Protection of Civil Rights, of promoting enmity between groups and criminal conspiracy based on a widely shared video.

The first information report, seen by Scroll, pertains to an event in Hyderabad from November 14 to November 16, in which the Association for Protection of Civil Rights participated.

A member of Khan’s organisation told Scroll that the event had featured discussions on the Supreme Court’s guidelines on mob lynching, bulldozer demolitions and hate speech. The group was just one of the participants there, the APCR member added.

However, the police alleged before the High Court that Khan’s “nefarious acts” had the potential to “disrupt communal harmony, possibly inciting unrest or conflict between different communities”.

The police claimed that the nature of the information that the activist disseminated clearly showed that he intended to exploit historical and social sensitivities, PTI reported. They alleged that he showed a wilful disregard for the effects of his actions on communal harmony.

The case

The first information report claimed that a police official identified as Sub-Inspector Akshay, while on patrol duty, was alerted by unidentified persons about a video posted on social media, which was reportedly causing "significant anger among local residents" and had the potential to incite violence.

This led the police to find the video allegedly featuring Khan that was uploaded on YouTube on November 21.

The Association for Protection of Civil Rights, however, maintained that the video did not show Khan uttering unlawful speech.

On December 3, the Delhi High Court had granted Khan interim protection from arrest and the matter is listed for further hearing on Wednesday.

The Association for Protection of Civil Rights alleged that on November 30, the Delhi Police had tried to detain Khan in Bengaluru without an arrest warrant. They subsequently issued a notice under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita directing him to appear before the police.