Daily Times

The Special Cell of Delhi Police Tuesday arrested JNU PhD scholar Sharjeel Imam in connection with Northeast Delhi riots in February this year under the severe Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). He was brought back to Delhi from Assam on Sunday on a production warrant.

Imam is an accused in a case related to alleged seditious speeches during the protests against CAA and NRC and was currently stuck in Guwahati jail in a case related to UAPA registered by the Assam police.

Imam, 31, was earlier arrested in Bihar’s Jahanabad by the Delhi Police on January 28. He was charged under IPC sections 124 A (sedition), 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, etc) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) over a speech he delivered at AMU, where he allegedly threatened to “cut off” Assam and the rest of the Northeast from India. Besides Delhi, police in UP, Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh have booked him on charges of agitation.

Imam has already been arrested in two cases of violence at Jamia on December 13 and 15, for instigating and abetting the Jamia riots, due to his treasonable speech on December 13.

“In the garb of protesting against the CAA, he urged people of a particular community to block the highways leading to the major cities and resort to ‘Chakka Jam’, thereby disrupting normal life,” it further said.

The report also alleged that Imam openly defied the Constitution and called it a “fascist” document.