Clarion India

NEW DELHI — The Delhi Police has filed a supplementary charge sheet and slapped sedition charges against former JNU student Sharjeel Imam and has alleged that his speech “promoted enmity” between people that led to riots in and around Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia University on December 15.

The supplementary charge sheet was filed before Metropolitan Magistrate of the Saket Court in Delhi.

Imam was arrested for instigating and abetting the Jamia riots, due to his seditious speech delivered on 13.12.19, according to Police.

Speaking to IANS over the phone, Sharjeel’s counsel Ibrahim said: “This is absolutely absurd. They are trying to link him with some Islamist organization without naming it.”

Sharjeel was one of activists who participated in the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that puts religion as a criterion for giving citizenship to the persecuted religious minorities from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. This is why CAA is seen as a law violating the principle of secularism enshrined in the Indian Constitution.

During anti-CAA protests, he delivered speeches and highlighted these issues in larger context. The part of his speeches which he delivered was taken by Police as a ‘threat’ to national security and sedition charges were slapped on him.

Delhi Police claimed he had given an “inflammatory” speech earlier on the Jamia Millia Islamia campus and lodged an FIR against him in the national capital.

(With inputs from IANS)