Delhi violence accused Sharjeel Imam tests coronavirus COVID-19 positive

Delhi violence accused JNU student Sharjeel Imam on Tuesday tested coronavirus COVID-19 positive. The special cell of the Delhi Police was scheduled to bring him to the national capital but just ahead of his departure for Delhi, he tested positive for COVID-19.

Imam is an accused in a case related to alleged inflammatory speeches during the protests against CAA and NRC and is currently lodged in Guwahati jail in a case related to Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) registered by the Assam police.

The Delhi High Court had on July 10 had dismissed the plea by Imam, who was arrested on January 28, challenging the trial court's June 25 order granting three more months to the Delhi Police, beyond the statutory 90 days, to complete the investigation in the case under the stringent UAPA.

"This court has already held there are good/justifiable grounds for extending the investigation. In view of my above conclusion, the present petition filed by the petitioner (Imam) is devoid of merit and is as such dismissed," the judge, in its 54-page order, said. The high court noted that the prosecutor's report filed in the trial court stated since March 24, 2020, due to global COVID-19 pandemic a lockdown has been imposed due to which the pace of investigation was seriously disrupted and said this clearly depicts the reasons for not completing the investigation in 90 days.

Imam was arrested on January 28 from Bihar's Jehanabad district in the case related to violent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) near the Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) University in December 2019. The statutory period of 90 days from the arrest had concluded on April 27.

He had also sought default bail in the matter on the ground that the probe was not concluded within the statutory period of 90 days and when the police had filed an application for more time to complete the investigation, he was not given a notice as required under the law. The trial court had dismissed the bail plea.

Initially, a case under section 124 A (sedition) and 153 A IPC (promoting enmity between classes) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the IPC was lodged by the Crime Branch, pursuant to the alleged speeches addressed by Imam, allegedly instigating a particular religious section of the society to disrupt/block the access to North East region of India from rest of India, police had claimed.

Imam was allegedly involved in organising protests at Shaheen Bagh but came into limelight after a video showed him making controversial comments before a gathering at Aligarh Muslim University, following which he was booked under sedition charges. Separate cases have also been registered against him in Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.