Sharjeel Imam, Asif Iqbal Tanha, and nine other people were charged by a Delhi court on March 7 for their roles in the violence that broke out during the 2019 anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) rallies in the Jamia Nagar neighborhood of the nation’s capital.
Additional Sessions Judge Vishal Singh of the Saket court noted that Mr. Imam’s speech near the Jamia Millia Islamia University on December 13, 2019, was “venomous,” “pitted one religion against another,” and “indeed a hate speech.” He also called Mr. Imam “one of the kingpins” of a larger conspiracy to incite violence, in addition to being an instigator.
“Being a senior Ph.D. student, accused Sharjeel Imam craftily clothed his speech in which he avoided the mention of communities other than Muslim community, but the intended victims of the ‘chakka jaam’ were members of communities other than the Muslim community. Why, otherwise, did accused Sharjeel Imam incite only members of Muslim religion to disrupt the normal functioning of society,” the court said in its order.
Additionally, it stated that Mr. Imam had publicly incited the Muslim community to feel angry and hateful, and encouraged them to employ chakka jaam (the total cessation of public movement) to cause “mass-scale disruption in public life in multiple cities of northern India.” “Evidently, the assembling of a huge mob and the mass-scale rioting committed by it was not a random or spontaneous happening and could not have been committed except in pursuance of a larger conspiracy entered into between the self-proclaimed leaders and initiators of mob activity, whereas other members of the mob/unlawful assembly kept joining in,” the court said.
According to the court, a chakka jaam could not be calm. “In a populous city like Delhi, at any given time, scores of critically ill medical patients requiring urgent treatment are in a rush to reach hospitals. Chakka jaam can potentially lead to deterioration of their condition or even death if they do not receive medical care on time, which would be nothing short of culpable homicide. Vehicles supplying essential and emergency services are on the roads. Chakka jaam essentially results in the violation of fundamental right to life and health of public. Even if the mob does not indulge in violence and arson while enforcing chakka jaam, it would still be a violent act by one section of society against the other,” the court said.
“Accused Ashu Khan, Chandan Kumar, and Aasif Iqbal Tanha committed abetment by prior conspiracy as well as by instigating violent mob activity at the spot, for which penal provision of Section 109 (abetment) of the IPC is justifiably invoked against them,” the judge said.
Anal Hussain, Anwar, Yunus, and Jumman were charged by the court under several sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, stating that a police witness and the accused individuals’ cell phone records had proven they were members of a riotous mob.
The case relates to the 2019–2020 demonstrations that took place in Shaheen Bagh and Jamia Millia Islamia University after the CAA was passed by Parliament on December 11, 2019. The New Friend’s Colony Police Station is where the case’s First Information Report was filed.
