Did not call for violence in speeches, activist Sharjeel Imam tells Delhi HC
The former Jawaharlal Nehru University student also claimed he had no links with others accused of plotting the February 2020 violence.
Activist Sharjeel Imam told the Delhi High Court on Thursday that none of the speeches that he delivered in 2020 during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act called for violence, Bar and Bench reported.
Imam, a former scholar at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, told the court that on the contrary, he had emphasised the need for the protest to be non-violent.
The activist, in his petition seeking bail, further claimed that he had no connection with others accused of having conspired to spark riots in northeastern Delhi in February 2020, PTI reported. His counsel argued that the prosecution had based its case on WhatsApp chats, even though there were no such chats between him and the co-accused persons.
Imam was arrested on January 28, 2020 for allegedly inciting violence during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. He was first booked for sedition and unlawful assembly under the Indian Penal Code and was also charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
The police later accused Imam of being among those who were part of an alleged larger conspiracy to spark violence in Delhi in February 2020.
On Thursday, Imam’s counsel said that the activist had left Delhi in mid-January 2020 and was already in police custody when the co-accused persons met in February to allegedly "alter the nature of the protests" in response to the visit of then-United States President Donald Trump.
The counsel also contended that Imam had distanced himself from the Shaheen Bagh protests in Delhi due to a concern about the possibility of political parties instigating violence.
The High Court will hear the bail petition next on December 20.
Clashes had broken out in North East Delhi in February 2020 between supporters of the Citizenship Amendment Act and those opposing it. The violence left 53 dead and hundreds injured. Most of those killed were Muslims.
The Delhi Police has claimed that the violence was part of a larger conspiracy to defame the Narendra Modi government and was plotted by those who organised the protests against the contentious citizenship law.
