Sharjeel Imam accused of spreading fear among Muslims
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Sharjeel Imam was spreading false information over the new citizenship law (CAA), the Delhi Police have said, adding, Imam was also trying to instigate people by claiming that Muslims were being put in the detention camps and killed in Assam. According to sources within police, Imam was trying to spread fear among Muslims by stating that they were on the government's radar. He also tried to provoke Muslims by raising the issues of Babri Masjid and Jammu and Kashmir.
On January 28, Imam was arrested by a Delhi Police team from his village in Jehanabad district of Bihar after four days of search. On Monday, his custody was extended for three days after the initial five-day police custody.
The police seized pamphlets, laptops and mobile phones from Imam's Delhi house. In one pamphlet, Imam had called the Muslim political and religious leadership "disappointing".
In one pamphlet, Imam said, "The Citizenship Amendment Bill was passed last week. This law is unconstitutional and intends to discriminate Muslims and put them in detention camps. It has started in Assam and will follow elsewhere." Muslims across India must reject the NRC and the CAA unitedly, it added.
On abrogation of Article 370, Ayodhya verdict and the CAA, Imam said, "There are more than enough grounds for a strong reaction from Muslims across India".
Imam wanted international media attention and staged a protest to cause disturbances in Delhi, the source said.
"Assam has started burning and the people are being killed. But the role played by our religious and political leadership has also been disappointing. Thousands of Muslim youths are ready to disrupt Delhi, which will attract international media attention to our issue.
"The students of Jamia Millia Islamia have given a protest call from the Jamia Jama Masjid. We Muslim students of JNU, request you to join the protest in large numbers and plan for a disruptive chakka jam," he appealed in the pamphlet written in English as well as Urdu.
Sedition case against Chudawala for 'anti-national' slogans
Activist Urvashi Chudawala was on Monday booked for sedition by the Mumbai Police for allegedly raising "anti-national" slogans in support of JNU student Sharjeel Imam at an LGBTQ event held at the Azad Maidan last week, an officer said. Besides Chudawala, 50 others were also booked under sections 124 (A) (sedition), 153 (B) (Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 505 (statement conducing to public mischief) and 34 (Common Intention) of the Indian penal code, said Pranay Ashok, Deputy Commissioner of Police.
"We have registered an FIR against Chudawala and 50 others. We will call them to (Azad Maidan) police station for further investigation," he said.
The case was registered by the Azad Maidan police after a video purportedly of Chudawala raising the slogans went viral after the LGBTQ event on February 1.
A police official said Chudawala was at the forefront in raising the slogan 'Sharjeel Tere Sapno ko Hum Manzil Tak Pahuchaege" (Sharjeel, We will realise your dreams).
A complaint in this regard was lodged by former BJP MP Kirit Somaiya on February 2, he said. Tweeting the video of a woman raising the slogans at the event, Somaiya had warned of staging a protest if the police failed to register the case against Chudawala and others.
Imam was arrested from Bihar's Jehanabad on January 28 for allegedly making inflammatory speeches at the Jamia Millia Islamia University in Delhi and in Aligarh.
Imam, a PhD student at the Jawaharlal Nehru University's Centre for Historical Studies, was booked in sedition cases lodged across several states for alleged "inflammatory" speeches made during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
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