On 18 February, a Ph.D. student of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Sharjeel Imam, who was named by Delhi Police as the ‘instigator’ of violence at New Friends Colony near Jamia Milia Islamia on 15 December 2019, was sent to 14-day judicial custody till 3 March by the District Court Saket of Delhi.

Reportedly, on 17 February, the Delhi Police has filed a charge sheet against Sharjeel and named him as the instigator of the violence that took place on 15 December at Jamia Milia Islamia and New Friends Colony. As per reports, the police also attached CCTV, call detail records and statements of over 100 witnesses as evidence against Sharjeel. Subsequently, he was sent to one-day custody of Delhi Police in a case involving violent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act at New Friends Colony.

Nevertheless, he came into the limelight during the ongoing protests against the CAA and the National Register of Citizens at Shaheen Bagh in Delhi. During investigations, it was revealed by the SIT that Sharjeel was a volunteer at the Shaheen Bagh protest until 2 January. Further, he was arrested from Bihar’s Jahanabad on 28 January, in a sedition case for allegedly making inflammatory speeches at the Jamia Millia Islamia University.

On 15 December, anti-CAA protestors had reportedly torched four public buses and two police vehicles as they clashed with police in the New Friends’ Colony near Jamia Millia Islamia, leaving nearly 60 people injured which included students, police and also firefighters.

Sharjeel has been booked by the inter-state cell of the Crime Branch under sections 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, etc) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of Indian Penal Code, over a speech he delivered at Aligarh Muslim University. Besides Delhi, police in Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Assam, and Arunachal Pradesh have also booked him for alleged sedition.