Police carry out raids in Bihar to nab JNU’s Sharjeel

NEW DELHI: Former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Sharjeel Imam has been booked for delivering inflammatory speeches in opposition to Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register for Citizens (NRC). A Delhi Police team along with cops from Aligarh and Bihar Police raided his residence in Bihar, but he was not found.
“A case under IPC sections 124 (offence by words, either spoken or written causes disaffection against government), 153 (promoting enmity between different religious groups with an intent to create disharmony) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) has been registered against Imam.He is currently absconding and efforts are being made to nab him,” said a senior Crime Branch officer.
Investigating officials said Imam had delivered a similar speech at Jamia Millia Islamia on December 13, 2019. Another speech of his, which was even more inflammatory and instigative against the government, was widely circulated on social media.
The Special Investigation Team of Crime Branch which registered the case is also probing the violence that occurred at Jamia on December 15 last year.
Meanwhile, the alumni of JNU’s Centre for Historical Studies, where Imam had studied, condemned his divisive statements. “Some TV channels are reporting that a JNU alumnus, Sharjeel Imam, said that the present anti-CAA movement is capable of permanently or temporarily cutting off the Northeast from India. The purpose of the legitimate, democratic, protests is exactly the opposite: to keep India socially and territorially a beautiful, harmonious nation. We, the students and alumni of Centre for Historical Studies, where Imam studied, reject with all contempt his alleged statement that calls for India to be dismembered,” read a statement by the alumni.