The Delhi High Court on Friday, February 10, allowed the urgent listing of a plea filed by Delhi Police challenging the order of a trial court that discharged Sharjeel Imam, Asif Iqbal Tanha, and nine others in a case pertaining to the violence at Jamia Millia Islamia University in December 2019.
Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta brought the matter before a division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad.
The plea filed by Delhi police stated, “The trial court not only discharged the respondents but was also swayed by emotional and sentimental feelings. It cast aspersions on the prosecuting agency and passed gravely prejudicial and adverse remarks against the prosecuting agency and the investigation”.
Allowing the mentioning, the division bench scheduled the case for hearing on Monday, February 13.
Notably, the Delhi police had moved the Delhi High Court on Tuesday challenging the trial court order that cleared Sharjeel Imam of all charges that were invoked against him in the sedition case related to a speech he delivered in 2019. The speech was made on December 15, 2019, during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Earlier, the Delhi court had on February 4, Saturday, discharged Sharjeel Imam in the 2019 Jamia violence case. The former JNU student Sharjeel Imam, however, continues to be in jail under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the conspiracy case related to the February 2020 Delhi anti-Hindu riots.
Sharjeel Imam was accused of inciting violence with his speeches
Sharjeel Imam was arrested in January 2020 after he delivered several provocative speeches that were blamed for triggering violence during anti-CAA protests in Delhi and several other states. The current case relates to a speech given in December 2019 in Delhi. According to the police, his speech provoked violence at Jamia Nagar in Delhi on December 15, 2019, during protests against the now-enacted Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB).
The mob damaged public and private properties including several vehicles during the riot in Jamia Nagar. Around 1500 demonstrators blocked the road and did not listen to the people who urged them to clear the road, and four public buses and two police vehicles were set ablaze during the violence.
Sharjeel Imam is also facing cases for other speeches he gave during the anti-CAA protests, including instigating Islamists to cut off North Eastern region from the rest of the country by blocking the ‘chicken’s neck’ in North Bengal.
