The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice on the bail plea of former JNU student-activist Sharjeel Imam, challenging the court’s earlier order, which had dismissed the plea.
The case pertains to his alleged inflammatory speeches during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests in 2019 at Aligarh Muslim University in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi’s Jamia area.
A bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice AK Mendiratta, hearing the arguments of Imam’s counsel Tanveer Ahmed Mir, asked what had been said by the special judge in the earlier order which had rejected the bail plea.
During the hearing, the bench observed that sedition requires a special call to violence, adding that there should be a conscious act to incite and abet violence. Mir argued that the FIR had omitted three lines from the speech and led him to believe that he was inciting violence.
Complying with the court’s earlier order, the bench said, “They have not done anything. All these offenses are of less than 7 years.”
On the allegations of Delhi Police, the bench asked whether he was a flight risk, would he tamper with the evidence and who were the witnesses?
The bench fixed the matter for further hearing on March 24.
Imam approached the High Court against the order of the lower court which rejected his bail application.
Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat on January 24, under sections 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence), 153B (accusation prejudicial to national unity), Charges were framed under , Section 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and 505 of the IPC, which deals with statements relating to public order.
According to the police, Imam made alleged inflammatory speeches at Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi on December 13, 2019 and at Aligarh Muslim University, Uttar Pradesh on January 16, 2020. He has been in judicial custody since January 28, 2020, and is currently lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail.
“He is accused of making seditious speeches and inciting a particular section of the community to indulge in unlawful activities which is prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of the nation,” the charge sheet said.
“In protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act, he called upon the people of a particular community to block highways leading to major cities and resort to ‘chakka jams’, disrupting normal life.”
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