'Sharjeel Imam tried to instill a sense of insecurity in Muslims'

New Delhi: The Delhi Police on Thursday told a Delhi court that PhD scholar and Delhi riots accused Sharjeel Imam "challenged the sovereignty of India" and tried to instill "a sense of hopelessness and insecurity" in Muslims in his allegedly seditious speeches delivered last year as part of the protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act and NRC.

Imam's bail plea was being heard by Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat in connection with the case including speeches he made in Aligarh Muslim University and the Jamia area in protest against the CAA-NRC which attracted section 124A (Sedition) and other relevant sections of IPC. He's also booked under the "larger conspiracy" case attracting stringent sections of the Unlawful Activities (Protection) Act (UAPA).

Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad, while reading out the speech delivered by Sharjeel on January 22 last year in Asansol, told the court: "He has made it abundantly clear that CAA or NRC is not the issue, issues were Triple Talaq, Kashmir...for which moblization was happening...he has given a clear indication that everything is over, as Muslms you have no hope," the prosecutor told the court.

SPP Prasad further told the court that Imam was challenging the sovereignty of the country by stating that it was an issue of five to six countries and that he will not listen to the Indian government. "Is he not challenging the sovereignty? He says Indian government cannot formulate the law in India...that is what he questions," Prasad submitted, adding that Imam was trying to imbibe "a sense of hopelessness" that there was no hope left for Muslims.

"What could be more to say that he is inciting violence?...Again the sense of dissatisfaction and insecurity that there is no hope left is precisely what he is trying to say," the prosecutor further argued.

SPP Prasad also told ASJ Rawat that the court must keep in mind that Imam was somone "who has done his thesis on riots". "First step is to bring people together, given them anger from within and then utilize it...he knows what he is saying. He is not someone like me who doesn't know how to do it," he told the court. Earlier during the bail hearing, the police had told the court that Imam beginning his speech with 'As-salamu alaykum' meant that he was only intending to target one particular community and not the mass in general. The matter has now been adjourned to Saturday.