JNU student Sharjeel Imam has been charge-sheeted for allegedly giving a seditious speech and instigating the anti-CAA ‘riots’ that took place in Jamia Millia Islamia on 15 December 2019, the Delhi Police said on Saturday, 18 April.
Imam had been arrested for ‘instigating and abetting Jamia riots’ from Bihar’s Jehanabad on 28 January for allegedly making inflammatory speeches regarding the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 at the Jamia Millia Islamia University in Delhi and in Aligarh.
He had surrendered to the Delhi Police and had subsequently been placed under arrest.
“We have not gone through the complete charge-sheet that was filed on 17 April 2020 by Delhi Police. After going through it, we will take the appropriate measures,” Imam’s lawyer Ahmad Ibrahim said, according to ANI.
The agency filed the final report 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 IPC and under the sections of stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
“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,” it said.
It further alleged that Iman openly defied the Constitution and called it a “fascist” document.
“In the name of opposing ‘CAA’ he also openly propagated blocking the ‘chicken neck’ connecting the mainland India with the Northeast.
Imam was arrested on January 28 from Bihar’s Jehanabad district under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for his alleged inflammatory speech in the wake of the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
Imam who has been lodged at the Central Jail in Guwahati since February 20 for seditious statements, has tested positive for Covid-19.