Jamia clashes: Delhi court sends Sharjeel Imam to 1 day police custody

A court here sent Sharjeel Imam, arrested on sedition charge last month, to one day custody of Delhi Police on Monday in a separate case related to violent protests against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) at New Friends Colony on December 15.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Gurmohina Kaur gave the order after the police said that they want to quiz Imam, as an accused in the December 15 violence had alleged that that he was provoked by Imam's speeches. Imam has not been booked in this case.

Imam, who came into limelight during the ongoing protest in Shaheen Bagh against the amended Citizenship Act and the National Register of Citizens, was arrested from Bihar's Jehanabad on January 28 for allegedly making inflammatory speeches at the Jamia Millia Islamia University here and in Aligarh.

A case had been registered against him on sedition and other charges on January 26 in this regard.

Protestors had torched four public buses and two police vehicles as they clashed with police in New Friends' Colony near Jamia Millia Islamia during a demonstration against the amended Citizenship Act on December 15 last year, leaving nearly 60 people including students, cops and fire fighters injured.

Police used batons and teargas shells to disperse the violent mob. They entered the Jamia university campus, saying that rioters had taken shelter there. However, the Jamia students had denied that they were involved in the violence and had alleged police brutality.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) Chinmoy Biswal had said groups of people, who were coming from the Jamia side, gathered near New Friends' Colony and blocked the road. The protesters who were numbering around 1,500 did not pay heed to police appeals to clear the area.

The protest was being held against the contentious law which seeks to provide citizenship to non-Muslims religious minorities from three neighbouring countries who arrived in India to escape religious persecution before 2015.