Pinjra Tod activist started media campaign to malign probe: Delhi Police tells HC

New Delhi [India], July 7 : The Delhi Police on Tuesday submitted before Delhi High Court that Pinjra Tod activist Devangana Kalita, who is facing a probe into her alleged role in the northeast Delhi violence, had started a media campaign to gain public sympathy in an attempt to malign the ongoing investigation by peddling a false narrative of political vendetta.
Delhi Police made the submissions in a status report filed on Kalita's plea against the cops for allegedly making selective leaks leading to the media trial. The police said also explained why a 'brief note' was shared by it with the media.
The status report said that it was Kalita, who had started a media campaign/trial in her favour to gain public sympathy and to influence and generate public opinion in her favour.
"The brief note of June 2 needed to be seen in this context which was in furtherance of the right of the citizen to know about the affairs of the society and the right of the journalist to ensure an informed society," Delhi Police said in the status report.
"It became necessary and compelling for the investigating agency to inform the public at large that the narrative peddled by the petitioner and its affiliate groups that a particular community and its supporters, including the petitioner, were being victimized, maliciously prosecuted and oppressed by state machinery and that there was large-scale persecution of such community, was false and fabricated," it added.
Kalita was arrested in a case in connection with protests against the Citizen Amendment Act in the Jafrabad area and was granted bail. Soon after getting bail in the protest case, she was arrested in another matter related to North-East Delhi violence being probed by Delhi Police and is currently under judicial custody.
"It is an attempt to malign and impede the ongoing crucial investigation against her by peddling a false narrative of political vendetta, the state sponsored pogrom, persecution, victimization, malicious prosecution, and state subjugation," the police said.
"It is submitted that the record manifest that the members of Pinjra Tod group through their social media account have been fervently and incessantly trying to present the petitioner and other accused persons as victims of malicious prosecution by spreading misleading and false information about the action taken by the Investigating Agency against them," it added.
The police, in its status report, said that the false and misleading information detailed in the tweets in public domain had a direct adverse impact on the law.
It said that the petitioner and her group have a huge social media presence, through which they have been vociferously trying to impede the ongoing investigation against them by trying to gain sympathy and by trying to swing public opinion in their favour.
Notably, Delhi High Court had earlier restrained the police from issuing any statements or circulating information regarding evidence allegedly collected against Devangana Kalita, a Pinjra Tod member, to any person including media till July 9, the next date of hearing.