[ Nellie N Manpoong ]
ITANAGAR, Jan 28: The Arunachal Pradesh Police (APP) is going to seek custody of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) PhD scholar Sharjeel Imam, who was arrested by the Delhi Police on Tuesday.
Special Investigation Team (SIT) SP Navdeep Singh Brar informed that a case of sedition was registered against Imam on 26 January at the APP’s crime branch under Section 124(A)/153(A)/153(B) IPC.
He informed that the police acted on “inputs regarding circulation of a viral video on social media platforms, inciting secession of Assam and other NE states, including Arunachal, from the rest of India, creating communal disharmony and hampering the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India.”
“All the contents of the video have been seized and will be sent to the forensic science laboratory for scientific evidence. Further efforts are on to track the maker, the uploader and the sender of this video,” the SP informed, adding that “a case has been registered and investigation is being taken up by the SIT.”
Regarding the APP’s interest in registering a case against Imam, who was reportedly addressing an anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) rally at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in Uttar Pradesh, the SP said, “We have yet to confirm where he delivered this speech. Further, he talks about cutting of Assam and northeastern states from India, and Arunachal is part of the Northeast.”
Sedition cases have been lodged against Imam in five states – Arunachal, Assam, Delhi, Manipur, and UP – for allegedly asking people to cut Assam and the NE off from the rest of India after the imposition of the CAA, during an anti-CAA rally on 16 January in Aligarh, UP.
The Delhi Police claimed that Imam had delivered an inflammatory speech earlier also, on the Jamia Milia Islamia campus, New Delhi, and that an FIR had been lodged against him in the matter.
The Delhi Police arrested Imam on Tuesday from Bihar. He had been on the run since the video of his speech at the AMU went viral.
