The Saket Court of Delhi has described the Sharjil Imam as the main leader of not only the ‘provocative’ in the 2019 Jamia violence case but also the main leader of the big conspiracy to ‘incite violence. The court has framed charges against the Imam. Additional Sessions Judge Vishal Singh said that the speech of the Imam given to Jamia University on 13 December 2019 was poisonous.
The court said that the speech of the Sharjil Imam was to raise one religion against another and spread hatred. The court was hearing the case against the Imam and others. The Crime Branch of Delhi Police (Crime Branch) is investigating in this case. The police had registered an FIR against the Imam and others under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Public Property Damage Prevention Act (PDPP) and the Arms Act.
‘Crowd gathering was part of a big conspiracy’
During the hearing on March 7, the court said in its order, ‘It is clear that a large crowd gathered and rioting it on a large scale was not an accidental incident, but it was part of the big conspiracy hatched by some people.’
‘Sharjil Imam instigated the speech’
According to the court, the Sharjil Imam in his speech on 13 December 2019 instigated people by saying that despite having a lot of Muslim population in various states of North India, why are they allowing cities to function normally, why do they not stop flywheel jams (stop public movement)? The judge said that the Imam had prepared his speech very cleverly, in which he did not directly mention any other community, but his aim was to influence other communities through Chakka Jam.
On the role of three other accused, the court said that the accused Ashu Khan, Chandan Kumar and Asif Iqbal Tanha provoked the violent mob at the scene as well as the violent mob under the former conspiracy, for which the punishment of Section 109 (abolition) of the Indian Penal Code is implemented against them.
Order to focus allegations against Sharjil Imam
The court has ordered the Sharjil Imam to frame allegations under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including provision, criminal conspiracy, promotion of enmity among groups, rioting, gathering illegally, attempts of culpable homicide, obstructing the work of public servants, obstructing the work of public servants, causing fire or explosives. Apart from this, an order has also been ordered to be framed against the Imam under the PDPP.
The court ordered to fed the charges against Anal Hussain, Anwar, Yunus and Jumman under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the PDPP Act, saying that a police witness and their mobile phone records prove that they were part of the rioting.
Demonstrations against CAA
The case is related to the protests in Jamia Millia Islamia and Shaheen Bagh in 2019-2020. These demonstrations were against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which was passed by Parliament on 11 December 2019. There was a lot of opposition in Delhi. This law was propagated in Muslim -dominated areas that the citizenship of Muslims would go away under CAA.