Delhi Police Adds UAPA Against JNU’s Sharjeel Imam for Dec Speech

Image of Sharjeel Imam used for representational purposes.

(Photo: ANI/Altered by The Quint)

Delhi Police on Wednesday, 29 April, charged Sharjeel Imam under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). He was arrested for giving “seditious speech and abetting riots in Jamia in December 2019,” ANI reported, quoting a Delhi Police official.

Days ago, on 18 April, Imam was charge-sheeted in the same case.

He 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.

Sedition Already in FIR

An FIR was registered against Imam by the Delhi Police on 25 January under IPC sections 124A (sedition) and 153A (promoting or attempting to promote disharmony or feelings of enmity on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever) among others. And now, UAPA charges have been added against him.

Imam was slapped with a sedition case after his alleged speech, wherein he could be heard speaking about ‘cutting off’ Assam and the northeastern States from the rest of India as part of anti-CAA protests, had gone viral.

On 15 December, the university in Delhi had turned into a battlefield, with students alleging that police entered the campus and used brute force to contain protests against the CAA, including against students in their hostels and the library.

Dozens of students were detained from the campus, and at least 60 – including students and policemen – were injured in the violence.

(With inputs from ANI)