Delhi High Court Responds to Sharjeel Imam's Appeal Against Charges in 2019 Anti-CAA Case

New Delhi, March 27 (NationPress) The Delhi High Court on Thursday issued a notice to the Delhi Police regarding a petition submitted by Sharjeel Imam. This plea contests the trial court's ruling that framed charges against the former JNU activist, identifying him as a key figure in a broader conspiracy aimed at provoking violence during the 2019 anti-CAA protests.

A bench led by Justice Sanjeev Narula was reviewing Imam's request for a revision of the trial court's decision, along with a demand for an interim stay on the contested ruling.

The Justice Narula-led bench refrained from issuing any interim order without first hearing from the prosecution and scheduled the next hearing for April 24.

Earlier this month, the trial court formally charged Sharjeel Imam and several others, labeling him not only as an instigator but also as a significant player within the larger conspiracy designed to incite violence during the 2019 anti-CAA protests.

According to Additional Sessions Judge Vishal Singh from the Saket Courts, Imam aimed to provoke the Muslim community and incite extensive violence against the implementation of the CAA and NRC. He allegedly organized public meetings, disseminated inflammatory pamphlets in areas such as Munirka, Nizamuddin, Shaheen Bagh, and Jamia Nagar, and created a video of an incendiary speech which he shared on social media to sway the Muslim community.

The judge remarked that Imam had visited the Aligarh Muslim University to incite students against the government regarding the CAA and NRC issues.

The trial court further noted that on December 13, 2019, at around 2:00 PM, Imam convened a meeting with Jamia students and local residents to encourage them to obstruct traffic on public roads in protest of the CAA and NRC.

It was noted that as a senior PhD student, Sharjeel Imam shrewdly crafted his speech to focus solely on the Muslim community, while the intended disruption of 'chakka jaam' primarily targeted communities outside of it.

The court stated, "Why else would Sharjeel Imam incite only members of the Muslim faith to disrupt societal functions? His speech was deliberately crafted to stir anger and animosity, inevitably leading to widespread violence by members of the unlawful assembly on public thoroughfares. His rhetoric was poisonous and positioned one religion against another, qualifying as hate speech."

Furthermore, the court asserted that the large-scale mob assembly and subsequent rioting were not coincidental or spontaneous events but rather the result of a larger conspiracy orchestrated by self-proclaimed leaders and instigators of the mob actions. Sharjeel Imam faces charges under Sections 109 of the IPC, in conjunction with Sections 120B, 153A, 143, 147, 148, 149, 186, 353, 332, 333, 308, 427, 435, 323, and 341, as well as Sections 3/4 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.

The Special Public Prosecutor argued that while, at first glance, Sharjeel Imam’s speech seemed to advocate for a peaceful public movement against certain government policies, it essentially stirred feelings of hostility among the Muslim community against others in the context of a law deemed unjust by the Union government.

Sharjeel Imam, alongside nearly a dozen others, is reportedly implicated in an alleged larger conspiracy tied to the Delhi riots of 2020, as stated by the Delhi Police. The riots erupted in February 2020, resulting from clashes between anti-CAA and pro-CAA demonstrators, which escalated into violence, claiming over 50 lives and leaving more than 700 injured.