'I am not a terrorist,' JNU's Sharjeel Imam tells Delhi court

Sharjeel Imam, a student of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), who has been charged with sedition for his alleged inflammatory speeches against CAA and NRC told a Delhi court that "he is not a terrorist". He further went on to say the prosecution as "more of whip of a monarch rather than a government established by law."

New Delhi: JNU student Sharjeel Imam told a Delhi court on Monday that he is not a terrorist and the ongoing case against him was "not because of a government established by law but a result of a king's order". The JNU student was apprehended for his alleged inflammatory statements made during the protest against CAA and NRC at the Jamia Millia Islamia and at the Aligarh Muslim University on December 13, 2019, and December 16 in 2019, respectively. The student has been in judicial custody since January 2020.

Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat was hearing the cases pertaining to the JNU student under FIR 22/2020 as registered by the Delhi Police under Sec. 124A, 153A, 505 of the IPC along with sec. 13 of the UAPA.

Sharjeel's lawyer Tanveer Ahmed Mir, while requesting for bail, said in the court -

"Today, this Prosecution of Sharjeel Imam is more of the whip of a monarch rather than a government established by law. This is not how the government or executive has to respond. At the end of the day, a dispensation will change. Nothing is permanent," said Advocate Tanveer Ahmed Mir appearing for Imam, while seeking bail as well as discharge in the matter.

"Criticizing the government cannot be considered sedition. The whole gist of the prosecution's argument is that if you speak against us now, it will be sedition. Imam cannot be punished because he criticized CAA or NRC. There was no call for violence in the speeches made by Imam and that the allegations made by the Prosecution were only rhetorics having no basis," Mir further added.

Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad's response -

However, the Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad rejected the argument saying that the fundamental right to protest cannot go beyond an extent that causes problems to the public at large.

"When I say that you're addressing to a particular community, I'm being told that you're being rhetoric. When you're addressing a particular community, then there is nothing wrong in it," Prasad further said, adding that Imam tried to create anarchy by alleging that there is no hope left for a particular community.

Earlier, during a hearing on September 1, Amit Prasad had said that Sharjeel Imam's speeches were disrupting and meant to create chaos among the citizens. He is not a pickpocket or drug smuggler, but he is a good orator with the power of five languages.

Reading Sharjeel Imam's speech at Jamia Millia Islamia University and Aligarh Muslim University, Prasad had said that three things were clear in his speeches. His speeches were divisive, which meant instigating a single community to create anarchy. His speech began with Assalam-o-Alaikum, which indicated that he was addressing a particular community.