No bail to Sharjeel Imam in Delhi riots UAPA case

Imam's lawyer, Tanveer Ahmed Mir, had argued that the accused never advocated violence: “The allegations against the accused are false and imaginary... chats of groups MSJ shows that accused never discussed or mentioned any intention to cause violence.”

By: Express News Service

New Delhi | Updated: April 12, 2022 07:26 AM IST

4 min read

JNU student Sharjeel Imam

A Delhi court Monday denied bail to JNU student Sharjeel Imam in a UAPA case lodged in connection with the Northeast Delhi riots, saying there are reasonable grounds to believe the allegations against him are true.

Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat noted that the four protected witnesses’ statements have to be taken at face value at this stage of deciding the bail application. The protected witnesses have claimed that Imam made provocative speeches asking for Shaheen Baghs to be created across the country, and asked for the overthrow of the government and called for chakka jams across the country.

Imam’s lawyer, Tanveer Ahmed Mir, had argued that the accused never advocated violence: “The allegations against the accused are false and imaginary… chats of groups MSJ shows that accused never discussed or mentioned any intention to cause violence.”

Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad argued that there is sufficient material on record to establish that the accusations against the accused is prima facie true.

Mir had argued that it is the constitutional right of the accused to protest against the law of CAA/NRC. On this, the court said that “there is no gainsaying the sacrosanct fundamental right of speech and free expression subject to public order available to every citizen of this country including the accused… However, the charge¬sheet, as filed, presents the case of conspiracy under the guise of a protest”.

Mir had argued that chakka jam has been used in this country for long, to which the court said Imam’s speech delivered on December 13, 2019, “is envisaged as a plan of action”.

It said there is a reference to the WhatsApp group, Muslims Students of JNU, “followed by the desire to do chakka ¬jam in as many as 50 cities in India where Muslims can do it”.

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“However, when chakka ¬jam or blockage is used in the normal course, the main object is to highlight the point of protest with some inconvenience that might be caused as a result of it. What is different here is that chakka¬ jam is desired with a certain goal. The speech says that the cities can be stopped by the Muslims. He then talks of disruption and the need to organise. He then states the goal as chakka ¬jam where milk supply or even water is stopped in the mohallas of Delhi,” the court said.

The court said Imam delivered a speech at Gaya, Bihar, on January 23, 2020, “where he tells a difference between protest and blocking the highways and lauds complete blockage and disruption of services between Delhi and Noida as a success and himself says that it is a first step and necessary step”.

It said it was important to mention that CAA/NRC protests happened across India but violence only took place in Delhi. The court also said that in his Gaya speech, Imam talked about paralysing the government and how events in Delhi are covered by the international media and thus, “if the Army is to be deployed, then it will be a humiliation for government and not for Muslims”.

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