The Delhi Police on Wednesday invoked the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act on Sharjeel Imam.
Anti-Citizenship Amendment Act activist Sharjeel Imam was arrested on from Bihar’s Jehanabad district on January 28. The JNU scholar had had sedition charges were slapped against him, allegedly after making inflammatory statements. He had been on the run for some time.
A graduate in computer science from IIT-Mumbai, Imam had shifted to Delhi for pursuing research at the Centre for Historical Studies at the JNU.
He was arrested for giving a seditious speech and for abetting riots in Jamia Millia Islamia in December 2019. The charge came after a video of his purported speech went viral on social media where he was heard speaking about “cutting off” Assam and the northeast from the rest of India.
“If five lakh people are organised, we can cut off the northeast and India permanently. If not, at least for a month or half a month. Throw as much ‘mawad’ (variously described as pus or rubbish) on rail tracks and roads that it takes the Air Force one month to clear it.
“Cutting off Assam (from India) is our responsibility, only then they (the government) will listen to us. We know the condition of Muslims in Assam….they are being put into detention camps,” he was shown in the video as saying.
On April 18, the Delhi Police filed a charge-sheet against Imam. Based on the evidence, sections 124A and 153A of the IPC (sedition and promoting enmity between classes) were invoked in the case, news agency ANI reported.
