Delhi court orders framing of sedition charge against Sharjeel Imam

Sharjeel Imam. File Pic

A Delhi court has ordered the framing of sedition among other charges against JNU scholar and activist Sharjeel Imam in a 2019 case, in which he allegedly delivered an inflammatory speech inciting violence at Aligarh Muslim University in Uttar Pradesh and Jamia area in the national capital during the CAA-NRC protests in 2019.

Additional sessions judge Amitabh Rawat framed the charges under sections 124A (sedition), 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence), 153B (Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), Section 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and 505 of IPC, which deals with statements related to public order.

According to the police, Imam made the alleged inflammatory speeches in Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi on December 13, 2019, and in Aligarh Muslim University, UP on January 16, 2020. He has been in judicial custody since January 28, 2020, and is presently lodged in Tihar Jail in Delhi.

A detailed order copy is expected to be made available later in the day.

Earlier, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Dinesh Kumar of Saket court had granted bail to him in a 2019 violence case registered at Jamia Nagar Police Station related to the violence in Jamia on December 13-14, 2019.

Though he was granted bail in the particular case, he was in judicial custody in connection with cases under various IPC sections for offences of rioting and unlawful assembly among others.

He was denied bail multiple times. On October 22, while dismissing the plea, Saket Court Additional Sessions Judge Anuj Aggarwal had stated that the tone and tenor of incendiary speech tend to have a debilitating effect upon public tranquility, peace, and harmony. "We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think; Words are secondary; Thoughts live; they travel far," the Judge had said in its order, citing Swami Vivekananda.

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