Red Fort Blast: How a white collar jihadi module is being whitewashed by twisting a routine police detention into a ‘Hindu terror’ narrative
On 10th November, a massive car blast shook Delhi. The explosion was later found to be connected to the elaborate Islamist terror module that has been unearthed across Kashmir, Delhi and Haryana, involving doctors, former medical students, questionable funding channels and Al-Falah University whose Chancellor has a dubious past. However, instead of acknowledging the scale of the jihadi network, a section of social media rushed to seize upon one detail that fit their preferred script, that is, the brief detention of a Hindu woman doctor, Dr Priyanka Sharma. As the media caught whiff of the questioning of a Hindu doctor, channels ran the reports and speculations grew. However, after only a couple of hours, it was reported that Dr Sharma was released by the police after questioning. But the ecosystem had got the card that could trump all the hate the Islamist terror module was getting. The ecosystem that consistently cries that “terrorism has no religion” was suddenly jubilant. They finally had a “Hindu name” to throw into the mix. Though she was not arrested, named as accused or placed under any restrictive legal custody, Dr Sharma became a target of vicious attacks. X user Alok Yadav said, “In the Delhi blast case, Dr Priyanka Sharma from Rohtak has been arrested. Among all the Hindus caught helping terrorists, 90% belong to one particular caste. Now if I name the caste, the mainstream will get upset.” Source: X X user Amock said, “BREAKING: Dr Priyanka Sharma has been detained by investigation agencies in Red Fort blast case. But ministry will not say a single word. Godi media will stay silent. Malware will pretend nothing has happened. She is Hindu and absolutely terrorism has no religion.” Source: X Social media user Nargis Bano claimed Dr Priyanka Sharma was arrested and said, “The people who defame Muslims by looking at the religion of criminals are silent on the arrest of MBBS doctor Priyanka Sharma.” Source: X Detention is not arrest, even if social media insists otherwise It is important to spell out what should be obvious. Detention for questioning is not the same as arrest. It is a routine practice for police to detain or call individuals for brief questioning while investigating cases, especially when such a massive terror module has been busted linked to a terror attack in the National Capital. There were no charges filed against Dr Sharma, no formal arrest memo was issued and no accusation was levelled. It was a temporary interaction between her and the police that the law allows to collect information. An arrest, on the other hand, involves formally taking someone into custody. Specific sections are invoked and the arrested person has to be produced before a magistrate to establish grounds for criminal suspicion. None of this happened in Dr Sharma’s case. Police merely questioned her because her name appeared in the phone trail of Adeel, a former GMC Amritsar staffer who has already been arrested. Dr Sharma was released by the police and her phone was, however, retained for forensic analysis, another routine procedure. Yet a few predictable commentators declared she had been “arrested,” “caught supporting Hindu terrorists” and similar falsehoods. They knew the difference. They simply did not care. A multi-state jihadi network, not a communal scavenger hunt What is actually unfolding is far more serious than the social media circus suggests. The Red Fort blast investigation and the “white-collar” module in Kashmir have exposed an interlinked jihadi network involving Adeel, an arrested staffer from GMC Anantnag, Dr Muzammil Ganai, already in custody, and Umar Nabi, the driver of the explosive-laden Hyundai i20. Two Haryana-based doctors from Al-Falah University have also been arrested by Delhi Police. This is what a genuine counter-terror operation looks like. Agencies are leaving no loose threads, which is why they are questioning anyone connected academically or professionally with the arrested individuals. A Muslim doctor from West Bengal who studied at Al-Falah was also questioned and released and an entire MBBS batch may undergo routine questioning. But selectively amplifying the name of a Hindu woman and pretending it somehow “equalises” a jihadi module is not investigation, it is agenda. The familiar game of absolving the guilty The moment the module’s Islamist links became clearer, some commentators grew uncomfortable. So they desperately clutched at Dr Sharma’s brief detention to proclaim Hindu involvement, even insinuating caste angles. Their goal is transparent. They want to erase the words “Islamist module” from the discourse and replace it with a muddy, politically convenient grey zone. This behaviour is not new. Every time an Islamist terror network is exposed, a section of the commentariat scrambles to invent balance, to float red herrings, to falsely secularise what is an explicitly radical network. Calling out the dishonesty The poli
On 10th November, a massive car blast shook Delhi. The explosion was later found to be connected to the elaborate Islamist terror module that has been unearthed across Kashmir, Delhi and Haryana, involving doctors, former medical students, questionable funding channels and Al-Falah University whose Chancellor has a dubious past. However, instead of acknowledging the scale of the jihadi network, a section of social media rushed to seize upon one detail that fit their preferred script, that is, the brief detention of a Hindu woman doctor, Dr Priyanka Sharma. As the media caught whiff of the questioning of a Hindu doctor, channels ran the reports and speculations grew. However, after only a couple of hours, it was reported that Dr Sharma was released by the police after questioning.
But the ecosystem had got the card that could trump all the hate the Islamist terror module was getting. The ecosystem that consistently cries that “terrorism has no religion” was suddenly jubilant. They finally had a “Hindu name” to throw into the mix. Though she was not arrested, named as accused or placed under any restrictive legal custody, Dr Sharma became a target of vicious attacks. X user Alok Yadav said, “In the Delhi blast case, Dr Priyanka Sharma from Rohtak has been arrested. Among all the Hindus caught helping terrorists, 90% belong to one particular caste. Now if I name the caste, the mainstream will get upset.”
X user Amock said, “BREAKING: Dr Priyanka Sharma has been detained by investigation agencies in Red Fort blast case. But ministry will not say a single word. Godi media will stay silent. Malware will pretend nothing has happened. She is Hindu and absolutely terrorism has no religion.”
Social media user Nargis Bano claimed Dr Priyanka Sharma was arrested and said, “The people who defame Muslims by looking at the religion of criminals are silent on the arrest of MBBS doctor Priyanka Sharma.”
Detention is not arrest, even if social media insists otherwise
It is important to spell out what should be obvious. Detention for questioning is not the same as arrest. It is a routine practice for police to detain or call individuals for brief questioning while investigating cases, especially when such a massive terror module has been busted linked to a terror attack in the National Capital. There were no charges filed against Dr Sharma, no formal arrest memo was issued and no accusation was levelled. It was a temporary interaction between her and the police that the law allows to collect information.
An arrest, on the other hand, involves formally taking someone into custody. Specific sections are invoked and the arrested person has to be produced before a magistrate to establish grounds for criminal suspicion. None of this happened in Dr Sharma’s case. Police merely questioned her because her name appeared in the phone trail of Adeel, a former GMC Amritsar staffer who has already been arrested. Dr Sharma was released by the police and her phone was, however, retained for forensic analysis, another routine procedure. Yet a few predictable commentators declared she had been “arrested,” “caught supporting Hindu terrorists” and similar falsehoods. They knew the difference. They simply did not care.
A multi-state jihadi network, not a communal scavenger hunt
What is actually unfolding is far more serious than the social media circus suggests. The Red Fort blast investigation and the “white-collar” module in Kashmir have exposed an interlinked jihadi network involving Adeel, an arrested staffer from GMC Anantnag, Dr Muzammil Ganai, already in custody, and Umar Nabi, the driver of the explosive-laden Hyundai i20. Two Haryana-based doctors from Al-Falah University have also been arrested by Delhi Police.
This is what a genuine counter-terror operation looks like. Agencies are leaving no loose threads, which is why they are questioning anyone connected academically or professionally with the arrested individuals. A Muslim doctor from West Bengal who studied at Al-Falah was also questioned and released and an entire MBBS batch may undergo routine questioning. But selectively amplifying the name of a Hindu woman and pretending it somehow “equalises” a jihadi module is not investigation, it is agenda.
The familiar game of absolving the guilty
The moment the module’s Islamist links became clearer, some commentators grew uncomfortable. So they desperately clutched at Dr Sharma’s brief detention to proclaim Hindu involvement, even insinuating caste angles. Their goal is transparent. They want to erase the words “Islamist module” from the discourse and replace it with a muddy, politically convenient grey zone. This behaviour is not new. Every time an Islamist terror network is exposed, a section of the commentariat scrambles to invent balance, to float red herrings, to falsely secularise what is an explicitly radical network.
Calling out the dishonesty
The police are doing their job. They are questioning anyone who ever worked with the arrested doctors. Most of them will be cleared and released within hours, as seen already. This is how terror cases are cracked in the real world. What must be called out is the intellectual dishonesty of those who are taking a detention and propagating it as a Hindu arrest, solely to shield a very real, very dangerous Islamist network. Such spin-doctoring does not just insult public intelligence, it undermines the fight against terrorism itself.
