SC seeks response of 4 states on transfer of trials against Sharjeel Imam to Delhi

New Delhi, Aug 13 (PTI) The Supreme Court sought to know from Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday whether they have any objections if the trials of former JNU student Sharjeel Imam, who has sought the clubbing of multiple FIRs levelling sedition charges against him for allegedly making inflammatory speeches, are transferred to Delhi.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Sanjay Kumar and R Mahadevan asked the four states to respond to the query and posted the matter for hearing in four weeks.

During the brief hearing, senior advocate Siddharth Dave, appearing in the court on behalf of Imam, told the bench that chargesheets have been filed in the FIRs registered in Assam and Manipur.

He said in the Assam case, there is also the question of default bail.

The bench said it needs to seek the responses of the respondent states on whether they have any objections if the chargesheets are transferred to a Delhi court, where the trial against the accused can proceed.

The court was hearing Imam’s plea filed in 2020 seeking the clubbing of multiple FIRs lodged against him in different states and transferring those to a Delhi court.

On May 26, 2020, the apex court sought the responses of Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur on the plea and gave another opportunity to the Delhi government to file its reply in the matter.

The Delhi Police has booked Imam under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

On January 28, 2020, Imam was arrested by the Delhi Police’s crime branch from Bihar’s Jehanabad in a sedition case for allegedly making inflammatory speeches in the Jamia Millia Islamia University and Aligarh Muslim University.

The former student at the Jawaharlal Nehru University’s (JNU) Centre for Historical Studies has been booked on sedition and other charges after purported videos of his alleged inflammatory speeches made during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) were circulated on social media.

An FIR was lodged against him by the Delhi Police on January 25, 2020 under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 124A (sedition) and 153A (promoting or attempting to promote disharmony or feelings of enmity on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever) among other provisions.