Delhi court sends Sharjeel Imam to police custody for a day over case of violence during anti-CAA protest in New Friends Colony

New Delhi: A Delhi court sent Sharjeel Imam, arrested on sedition charge last month, to one day custody of Delhi Police on Monday in a separate case related to protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that turned violent at the New Friends Colony on 15 December. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Gurmohina Kaur gave the order after the police said that they want to quiz Imam after an accused in the 15 December violence case, Furkan, has alleged in his disclosure statement that he was provoked by Imam’s speeches. Imam has not been booked in this case. The court granted custody to the police after Imam was interrogated in the court for half an hour. It said Imam’s custodial interrogation was necessary for proper investigation in the case. The police had earlier told the court that Furkan was arrested on the basis of a CCTV footage which showed him carrying a container allegedly containing petrol. In its remand application, the police said that on 15 December last year, a large gathering assembled near Escort hospital at New Friend’s Colony to protests against the newly amended law. [caption id=“attachment_7956421” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Sharjeel Imam. Twitter @MilitaryUpdate_[/caption] “Gathering was warned by the police to not take law in their hands but they kept raising anti-CAA slogans. The unruly mob armed with sticks started targeting the public and broke vehicles. On the identification of accused Furkan was arrested in the case, who disclosed he was provoked by the speeches given by accused Sharjeel (Imam),” it said. The police sought permission from the court to interrogate Imam and arrest him for further investigation. It said they need to interrogate him to identify the place where he gave the alleged provocative speeches and collect evidence regarding a larger conspiracy here. Four people were arrested in the case on 16 December and sent to judicial custody. Furkan was arrested later. Imam, who came into the limelight during the ongoing protests at Shaheen Bagh here against the CAA and the National Register of Citizens, was arrested from Bihar’s Jehanabad on 28 January in a separate case for allegedly making inflammatory speeches at the Jamia Millia Islamia University and in Aligarh. A case had been registered against him on sedition and other charges on 26 January 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 the demonstration against the CAA on 15 December, leaving nearly 60 people including students, cops and fire fighters injured. The 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, around 1,500, did not pay heed to the 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.