2019 Jamia Riot Case: Sharjeel Imam Denied Bail

Sharjeel Imam, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student was denied bail by a Delhi court on Friday in connection to the Jamia rioting case of 2019.

The court observed that the speech was on communal lines and the content of the speech tended to have a debilitating effect on the peace and harmony.

Imam allegedly delivered a speech during the anti-CAA protests and NRC, said Delhi Police adding that the statement was provocative in nature which led to riots two days later when a mob of over 3,000 people attacked cops and torched vehicles in Delhi's Jamia Nagar.

The additional sessions judge Anuj Agarwal while denying Imam the bail said that the cursory and plain reading of the speech displays that it was on communal lines. "The tone and tenor of the incendiary speech tend to have a debilitating effect upon public tranquility, peace, and harmony of the society," he said, as reported by Hindustan Times.

The judge also quoted Swami Vivekananda while delivering the verdict. "We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think; Words are secondary; Thoughts live; they travel far," he said, according to a report by news agency ANI.

The judge also did note that the evidence in support of the allegations that the rioters got instigated by Imam's speech and following which they indulged in the acts of rioting, mischief, and attacking the cops was sketchy. It said that whether the speech would fall in the ambit of section 124A (Sedition) Indian Penal Code or not still requires deeper analysis at an appropriate stage.

Alongside this case, Imam is accused of being the "mastermind" of the February 2020 northeast Delhi riots, which led to deaths of 53 people and injured over 700.

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