2019 Jamia riots case: Delhi HC issues notice on Sharjeel Imam bail plea in sedition case
Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar issued notice on the plea and posted the matter for further hearing on February 11.
FollowThe Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued a notice to Delhi Police on the bail application filed by JNU student Sharjeel Imam, accused in a case related to alleged inflammatory and instigating speeches during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Delhi.
Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar issued notice on the plea and posted the matter for further hearing on February 11. Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde appeared on behalf of Imam whereas Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad appeared for the prosecution, LiveLaw reported.
In October, the lower court had rejected his bail plea, saying that the fundamental right of ‘freedom of speech and expression’ cannot be exercised at the cost of communal peace and harmony of the society.
Last month, a Delhi court dismissed Imam’s bail plea, but noted in its order that the evidence that rioters were incited by his speech and indulged in acts of rioting “is scanty and sketchy”. It said the prosecution version can’t be built on “imaginative thinking”, and once this is removed, it “appears to be crumbling like a house of cards”.
On December 15, 2019, a mob of over 3,000 people attacked police and torched several vehicles in Jamia Nagar during a demonstration against the Citizenship Amendment Bill. The prosecution had claimed the mob was instigated by Imam’s speeches against CAA-NRC outside Jamia Millia Islamia.
Imam was arrested on January 28, 2020 from Bihar for allegedly giving a seditious speech and abetting riots in the Jamia Millia Islamia area of Delhi in December last year. According to Delhi Police, in the said speech, Sharjeel Imam was instigating a particular religious community against the government by creating unfounded fears in their minds regarding CAA and NRC.
As per the prosecution, the said speeches delivered by Imam were seditious, communal, and divisive in nature and were aimed at promoting enmity between different religions. The judge had also quoted Swami Vivekanand in the order and said, “We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think; Words are secondary; Thoughts live; they travel far.”
