Sharjeel Imam has finally been arrested by the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police. Imam was arrested on Tuesday from his hometown in Bihar's Jahanabad. Sharjeel Imam has been in news for his "inflammatory" speeches following which cases including sedition were registered against him. Police teams from Bihar and Delhi conducted multiple raids in different parts of the country to nab Imam.
Who is Sharjeel Imam?
31-year-old Sharjeel Imam is a PhD student at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University. Sharjeel Imam graduated in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. Imam had shifted to Delhi for pursuing research at the Centre for Historical Studies at the JNU. Imam's father, the late Akbar Imam, was a JD(U) leader who had unsuccessfully contested an assembly election in Bihar.
What are the charges against Sharjeel Imam?
Sharjeel Imam kicked up a controversy after a video emerged where he spoke about cutting off the northeast from India if "five lakh people stand organised". The Crime Branch of the Delhi Police registered a sedition case against him over the threatening remarks. Police in two northeastern states--Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh-- also lodged FIRs against Imam, one of the organisers of the Shaheen Bagh protest.
In the video, the activist is heard saying, "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."
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