New Delhi: JNU student Sharjeel Imam was denied bail by a Delhi court on Friday in a 2019 case alleging that he delivered provocative speeches which led to violence in the Jamia Nagar area, Delhi. The court said that the alleged inflammatory speech was on communal lines and its content "tend to have a debilitating effect on the peace and harmony."
Denying bail to him, Additional Sessions Judge Anuj Agrawal said that cursory and plain reading of the speech showed that it was clearly on communal lines.
"The tone and tenor of the incendiary speech tend to have a debilitating effect upon public tranquillity, peace, and harmony of the society," he added.
The judge, however, noted that the evidence in support of the allegations that the rioters got instigated by Imam's speech and thereafter indulged in the acts of rioting, mischief, attacking the police party, was scanty and sketchy.
The court also observed that the issue of whether the speech would fall within the ambit of section 124A IPC or not require a deeper analysis at an appropriate stage.
According to police, Imam allegedly delivered a provocative speech on December 13, 2019, which resulted in violence two days later on December 15, 2019. The prosecution says that information was received by Police regarding a demonstration against the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) by the students and residents of Jamia Nagar.
It was alleged that a mob consisting of over 3,000 people blocked traffic movement on the road and started damaging public/private vehicles and properties with sticks, stones and bricks, attacked police personnel and torched several vehicles in the Jamia Nagar area.
Specific allegations against Imam were that he instigated a particular religious community against the government by creating fear in their minds regarding CAB and NRC. As per the prosecution, the said speeches delivered by Imam were seditious, communal and divisive in nature and were aimed at promoting enmity between different religions.
Besides this case, Imam is also accused of being the "mastermind" of the February 2020 northeast Delhi violence, which had left 53 people dead and over 700 injured