New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Sharjeel Imam began one of his alleged inflammatory speeches with “As-salamu alaykum” salutation which shows it was addressed to a particular community and not the public at large, the Delhi Police informed a court on Wednesday.
Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Amit Prasad, representing the police, made the remarks during the argument in a sedition case filed against the JNU student.
The sedition case has been filed against Imam for speeches made by him at two universities in 2019 where he allegedly threatened to “cut off” Assam and the rest of the northeast from India.
Prasad during the hearing apprised Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat that Imam attempted to create complete anarchy and gave divisive speeches during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Reading out a January 16 speech given by the JNU student in Aligarh, the Special Public Prosecutor said: “He begins this speech by saying “As-salamu alaykum”, which shows that it is only subjected to one community.”
“The people called upon to take action were also from one community. The speech was definitely divisive. It was not made for the general public at large but a specific community. He is attempting to create complete anarchy,” he added, PTI reported.
The Special Public Prosecutor emphasized that Imam is not a simple pickpocket or small-time drug peddler but a man with excellent oratory skills, who has written a thesis on rioting and has knowledge of how a critical mass can come together.
Imam is accused of offenses relating to sedition, promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, imputations prejudicial to national integration, and public mischief under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and indulging in unlawful activities under the UAPA.
Delhi Police had filed a chargesheet against Imam in the case in which it alleged that he allegedly gave speeches inciting hatred, contempt and disaffection towards the Central government and instigated the people which led to the violence in December 2019.
“In the garb of CAA, he (Imam) exhorted people of a particular community to block highways leading to major cities and resort to ''''chakka jaam''''. Also, in the name of opposing CAA, he openly threatened to cut off Assam and other Northeastern states from the rest of the country,” the chargesheet said.
Imam, who is in judicial custody since January 2020, made the alleged inflammatory speeches at Jamia Millia Islamia on December 13, 2019, and at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) on December 16, 2019.