The Delhi Police has slapped sedition charges against former JNU student Sharjeel Imam and has alleged that his speech "promoted enmity" between people that led to riots in and around Delhi's Jamia Mila Islamia University on December 15. The chargesheet against Sharjeel Imam has been filed in the Saket district court in Delhi.

The Delhi Police said on December 15 last year, riots broke out in consequence to the protest march organised by students of Jamia Millia Islamia University against the Citizenship Amendment Act. It said these riots broke out in New Friends Colony and Jamia Nagar areas, both adjacent to the university.

"The mob indulged in large-scale rioting, stone pelting and arson and in the process destroyed many public and private properties. Cases of rioting, arson and damage to public properties were registered. Many policemen and public persons were injured in the riots," the Delhi Police said.

The police said Sharjeel Imam was arrested based on the charges of “instigating and abetting riots” in Delhi, due to his “seditious speech delivered on December 13, 2019”.

“During investigation, on the basis of evidences collected, sections 124 A IPC and 153 A IPC (Sedition and promoting enmity between classes) were invoked in the case. The first chargesheet in this case was filed against the rioters arrested by the SIT led by Rajesh Deo. A supplementary chargesheet in continuation of the earlier chargesheet has now been filed in the Saket court. Further investigation in the case will be continued,” the police said.

Sharjeel Imam had been involved in organising protests at Delhi's Shaheen Bagh but came into limelight after a video clip went viral wherein he could be heard making some controversial comments while addressing a gathering at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), following which he was booked under sedition charges.

Delhi Police claimed he had given an "inflammatory" speech earlier on the Jamia Milia Islamia campus and lodged an FIR against him in the national capital.

Another case was lodged under the stringent anti-terror law against him in Assam, taking cognisance of Imams remark that Assam could be "severed from India, even if for a few months" as a result of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).

Police in Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh had also lodged FIRs against the JNU scholar, over his speech in which he threatened to "cut off" Assam and the northeast from the rest of the country.

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