Sharjeel Imam arrested from Bihar's Jehanabad on charges of sedition

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(More inputs from Nitish Chandra in Patna)

Ex-JNU student and activist Sharjeel Imam, accused of sedition, was arrested from Bihar's Jehanabad on Tuesday. The arrest was made by Delhi police crime branch. Imam was slapped with sedition charges for delivering inflammatory speeches against the amended Citizenship Act and the planned National Register of Citizens.

"Sharjeel Imam (JNU student) was arrested from his village in Jehanabad at around 2 p.m. today. We are taking transit remand from Bihar and trying to bring him to Delhi from the shortest possible route," Rajesh Deo, DCP Crime Branch, Delhi Police said.

Earlier in the day, Jehanabad Police had detained Sherjeel's younger brother Muzammil Imam. 

Imam was heard saying in an audio clip that Assam should be cut off from the rest of India and taught a lesson, as Bengalis — both Hindus and Muslims — are being killed or put into detention centres.

A series of video have gone viral on social media in which Sharjeel Imam is heard saying: "If we come together, then we can seperate the Northeast from India. If we cannot do it permanently, than at least for one to two months, we can do this."

"It is our responsibility to cut Assam from India. When this happens, only then the governmnet will listen to us," he is heard saying further in the video. 

According to Delhi Police, Sherjeel made made divisive speeches on two occasions, once at the Jamia Millia Islamia University at the height of the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests in December, the other at the Aligarh Muslim University in Uttar Pradesh, another epicentre of the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act or CAA.

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Following Sharjeel's controversial remarks allegedly made during anti-CAA protests, police of six states Bihar, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Manipur have booked Sharjeel under the relevant sections of the IPC.

A case against Imam under IPC sections 124 A (an offence by words, either spoken or written causes disaffection against Government established by law), 153 A (promoting enmity between different religious groups with an intent to create disharmony) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) has been registered.

Meanwhile, reacting to the breaking development on Sharjeel Imam, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said, "Court will decide on the case."

Nitish's JDU has so far distanced itself from CAA and NRC. Nitish Kumar however so far has voiced his dissent on NRC and CAA.

"If somebody does something wrong, action will be taken. Police and court will decide on the action," Nitish told reporters.

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