'Fascist' Govt Slapped 'Draconian' Sedition Charges Against Sharjeel Imam: IIT-Bombay

IIT-Bombay, the alma mater of Sharjeel Imam, has come in out his support. In a sharply-worded statement, the premier educational institute termed the sedition charges against Sharjeel Imam as ‘draconian’. “IIT-Bombay, on behalf of its fraternity would like to strongly condemn the disgusting propaganda and sedition charges filed on Sharjeel Imam of JNU. Sharjeel Imam, who is also an alumni of IIT Bombay, delivered a speech on CAA, NPR and NRC at AMU on 16th January, condemning the dehumanization of migrants and dehumanizing aspects of detentions camps already operational in Assam. We believe that all aspects of CAA-NPR-NRC must be discussed so that we have more clarity on the topic and accordingly can formulate our response,” the statement  

“The fact that draconian sedition charges (124A) have been applied to threaten an assertive student who rightly discussed the negative implications of Assam NRC and NRC-at-large is highly condemnable,” the IIT-Bombay said. The engineering institute also slammed JNU vice-chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar. “It is shameful on part of JNU VC that he is not standing by his own student and letting him be hounded by the fascist Govt. We also condemn the raiding of Sharjeel’s house and detention of his family members and relatives which we interpret as state retaliation and which is unacceptable in any country governed by the rule of law,” the IIT-Bombay said.

On Tuesday, Imam was arrested from Bihar’s Jehanabad over sedition charges. Imam was arrested from Kake area of Jehanabad. The arrest came following the mega hunt, which was launched soon after the Imam’s Assam video went viral.

Earlier in the day, Imam’s brother was picked up by Jehanabad police for question. The JNU scholar student is known as the co-coordinator of Shaheen Bagh protests. Raids were conducted by Delhi Police in the national capital, Mumbai, Patna to arrest him for his ‘cut off Assam from India’ remark. A case of sedition was filed against Imam for the speech he delivered on the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) campus on January 16.

Pursuing research at the Centre for Historical Studies in JNU, Sharjeel Imam allegedly made the controversial remark during a protest against the citizenship law and the National Register of Citizens. "If we have 5 lakh organised people then we can permanently cut north-east from India or at least for one month. Disrupt the root so that they cannot even remove it for a month. It is our responsibility to isolate Assam from India, then only they will listen to us," Shaheen Bagh Coordination committee chief Sharjeel Imam could be heard saying in the video that was tweeted by BJP’ national spokesperson Sambit Patra. “We may come to know that in 6-8 months all Bengalis have been killed - Hindu or Muslim. If we want to help Assam, then we will have to stop the way to Assam for the Indian Army and other supplies," Imam had said in the viral clip.