On Tuesday, the Solicitor General of India (SG) Tushar Mehta had reportedly sought more time during the hearing of a petition filed by radical Islamist and sedition-accused Sharjeel Imam before the Supreme Court of India. Imam had moved the apex court seeking the amalgamation of all FIRs filed against him in different states of India.
The petition came up before a 3-Judge Bench comprising of Justices Ashok Bhushan, Sanjay Kishan Kaul, and MR Shah. Tushar Mehta informed that a reply would be filed, regarding the petition, on Wednesday. Counsel appearing for the accused, Siddhartha Dave, reportedly cited the case of Arnab Goswami and the Aligarh Muslim University case to club all FIRs filed against Imam into one single case. Disagreeing to the prayer, the Solicitor General said that Imam’s case was different from the ones he had mentioned.
He added that all other States, including NCT of Delhi, where cases have been filed against the accused needed to be made a party in the said case. Solicitor General Mehta also stated that the apex court should issues notices to the States of Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, and Arunachal Pradesh, all the states that have cases pending against Imam and emphasised that merely issuing notice to the NCT of Delhi won’t be enough.
Threats by Sharjeel Imam to ‘cut off’ Assam
Earlier, a series of videos had gone viral on social media in which Sharjeel Imam, the chief co-ordinator of Shaheen Bagh protest and a The Wire columnist was seen instigating Muslims of the country to break India by cutting of North-east from the rest of the country. While speaking to Muslim mobs, he said, “Our aim is to cut Assam and North-east India from rest of India”.
Arrested for Sedition
In January this year, Sharjeel Imam was arrested by the Police from Bihar’s Jehanabad. Sedition charges were filed against him in multiple states for his remarks urging Muslims to cut off North East India from the rest of the country by blocking the Chicken’s neck. The arrest was made by the Delhi Police Crime Branch after he was absconding for four days. A manhunt was launched after the video of his seditious speech went viral on social media.
Several states like Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh had filed FIRs against him under charges of sedition and other offences for his secessionist statements.