Sedition Accused Sharjeel Imam Sent To 1-Day Police Custody Over Anti-CAA Protests

JNU scholar Sharjeel Imam, who has been booked under the stringent sedition charges, was sent to 1-day police custody on Monday. It should be noted that Imam’s custody is related to the Jamia protests on December 15 and not for the viral video where he had allegedly made anti-India statements. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Gurmohina Kaur sent Imam to the custody after the police said that another accused in the case disclosed that he was allegedly provoked by Sharjeel's speeches. Imam was arrested from Bihar's Jehanabad on January 28 for allegedly making inflammatory speeches at the Jamia Millia Islamia University in Delhi and in Aligarh.

What Was Controversy?

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.

The JNU researcher had allegedly called for a large-scale "disruptive chakka-jaam" in Delhi to grab international's media attention. In a pamphlet, a copy of which was with News Nation, the former organiser of the Shaheen Bagh protest, allegedly wrote: "Thousands of Muslim youths are ready to disrupt Delhi which will give international media attention to our issue."

"This law is unconstitutional and intends to disfranchise Muslims and put them in detention camps. It has already started in Assam and will follow elsewhere... Kashmir, Babri and now CAA, there are more than enough grounds for a strong reaction from Muslims across India."

The police have claimed that the pamphlet was printed and distributed in mosques on December 14, and the violence in and outside Jamia campus took place on December 15.