The Delhi Police on Tuesday formally arrested ex-JNU student Sharjeel Imam under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act in connection with the Delhi riots. Imam will be presented before a Delhi court tomorrow in the matter.
Sharjeel Imam was lodged in the Guwahati Central Jail for allegedly delivering inflammatory speeches during an anti-CAA protest last year. He was brought to Delhi on Sunday by the Special Cell of Delhi Police on a production warrant.
Sharjeel Imam has been booked under various sections including 124-A (Sedition), 153(A) (Promoting enmity), 153-A (promoting enmity, Hatred between different communities), 153-B (Assertion prejudicial to national integration) and 505 (spreading rumours) of India Penal Code and under the section 13 of the draconian UAPA.
According to the charge sheet filed by the Delhi Police in July, the ex-JNU scholar has been accused of “delivering seditious speeches and inciting a particular section of the community to indulge in unlawful activities, detrimental to sovereignty and integrity of the nation”.
“In the garb of protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act, he exhorted people of a particular community to block the highways leading to the major cities and resort to ‘Chakka Jam’, thereby disrupting normal life,” the Delhi Police charge-sheet said.
It further alleged that Iman openly defied the Constitution and called it a “fascist” document.
Imam is also being probed for his alleged inflammatory speech at Jamia Millia Islamia on December 13 and subsequently on January 16 at Aligarh Muslim University, where he allegedly threatened to “cut off” Assam and the rest of the Northeast from India.
The police had earlier submitted before the court that after his speech on December 13, widespread arson and violence took place in various parts of Delhi and that several protest sites emerged after his January 16 speech.
During his confinement at the Guwahati Jail, Sharjeel Imam tested positive for coronavirus after which his transfer to Delhi was delayed.
