Sharjeel tried to ‘create anarchy’, police tell court
The speech was definitely divisive. It was not made for the general public at large but a specific community.
AMIT PRASAD ,
NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police on Wednesday told a city court that Jawaharlal Nehru University student Sharjeel Imam gave provocative, divisive speeches and called for road blockades in an attempt to “create anarchy”.
Imam made the alleged inflammatory speeches at Jamia Millia Islamia on December 13, 2019, and at Aligarh Muslim University on January 16, 2020. He has been in judicial custody since January 28, 2020 after he was slapped with the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and sedition, among other charges.
Special public prosecutor (SPP) Amit Prasad told the additional sessions judge, Amitabh Rawat, that Imam is a great orator who knows five languages.
Prasad read out the January 16 speech by the JNU student in Aligarh and said, “He (Imam) begins this speech by saying “As-salamu alaykum”, which shows that it is only subjected to one community”.
“The people called upon to take action were also from one community. The speech was definitely divisive. It was not made for the general public at large but a specific community. He is attempting to create complete anarchy,” he further argued.
Reading out the part of the speech given at AMU, Prasad said, “These are very crucial words because we must keep in mind that this accused is somebody who has done his thesis on rioting and, therefore, has knowledge as to how a critical mass can come together and
prosecutor
how things can be done from them.”
The matter would be heard on Thursday.
Imam is accused of offences relating to sedition, promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, imputations prejudicial to national integration, and public mischief under the Indian Penal Code, and indulging in unlawful activities under the UAPA.
The Delhi Police had filed a charge sheet against Imam in the case, in which it alleged that he allegedly gave speeches inciting hatred, contempt, and disaffection towards the central government and instigated the people which led to the violence in December 2019.
“In the garb of [opposing] CAA [the Citizenship Amendment Act], he exhorted people of a particular community to block highways leading to major cities... Also, in the name of opposing CAA, he openly threatened to cut off Assam and other Northeastern states from the rest of the country,” the police’s charge sheet had claimed.