A Delhi court Saturday cleared Sharjeel Imam of all charges that were invoked against him in the sedition case related to a speech he delivered in 2019 which provoked violence in Jamia Nagar in Delhi on December 15, 2019, during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The former JNU student Sharjeel Imam would, however, continue to be in jail under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or UAPA in the conspiracy case related to the February 2020 Delhi anti-Hindu riots.
A Delhi Court on Saturday discharged Sharjeel Imam and Asif Iqbal Tanha in a case connected to the incidents of violence at Jamia Milia Islamia University in December, 2019.
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) February 4, 2023
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Along with Imam, Asif Iqbal Tanha had also been discharged in the same case. The court, however, framed the charges of unlawful assembly and rioting against one Mohammed Iliyas.
Saket court additional sessions judge Arul Verma pronounced the order.
Both Tanha and Imam were accused by the Delhi Police of rioting, and unlawful assembly. Sections 143, 147, 148, 149, 186, 353, 332, 333, 308, 427, 435, 323, 341, 120B and 34 of the IPC had been invoked against the duo in the case.
Both Sharjeel Imam and Asif Iqbal Tanha were granted bail in the matter by the Saket Court in September 2022.
Sharjeel Imam incited violence his hate speeches
Sharjeel Imam was arrested in January 2020 after he delivered several provocative speeches that triggered violence during anti-CAA protests in Delhi and several other states. The current case relates to a speech given on December 2019 in Delhi. According to the police, his speech provoked violence in Jamia Nagar in Delhi on December 15, 2019, during protests against the now-enacted Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB).
The mob damaged public and private properties including several vehicles during the riot in Jamia Nagar. Around 1500 demonstrators blocked the road and did not listen to the people who urged them to clear the road, and four public buses and two police vehicles were set ablaze during the violence.
Sharjeel Imam is facing other cases for other speeches he gave during the anti-CAA protests, including instigating Islamists to cut of North Eastern region from the rest of the country by blocking the ‘chicken’s neck’ in North Bengal.
