Sharjeel Imam’s bail rejected: Court says speech on communal lines

New Delhi, Oct 22: A Delhi court has rejected the bail plea filed by JNU student Sharjeel Imam. He was arrested for allegedly making an inflammatory speech and inciting violence in the Jamia Nagar area in 2019.

Additional Sessions Judge Anuj Aggarwal said that a cursory and plain reading of the speech reveals that sambas clearly on communal and divisive lines. "In my view, the tone and tenor of the incendiary speech tends to have a debilitating effect upon public tranquility, peace and harmony of the society," the court also said.

On December 15 2019, amok of over 3,000 people attacked police personnel and torched several vehicles during a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act. The prosecution told the court that the mob was instigated by Imam's speech against CAA and NRC.

"Neither any eye witness has been cited by prosecution nor there is any other evidence on record to suggest that co-accused got instigated and committed the alleged act of rioting etc upon hearing the speech of applicant/accused Sharjeel Imam. Further, there is no evidence corroborating the version of prosecution that alleged rioteers/co-accused were a part of the audience addressed by applicant/accused Sharjeel Imam on 13.12.2019," the order read.

"In either case, it is not legally permissible to build the edifice of the prosecution version upon the foundation of imagination or upon inadmissible confession before a police officer. Once the legally impermissible foundation of imaginative thinking and disclosure statement of accused/co-accused is removed, the prosecution version on this count appears to be crumbling like a house of cards, the order further stated.