Police raids going on in Mumbai, Patna and Delhi to arrest JNU research scholar Sharjeel Imam

Raids are
being conducted in Mumbai, Patna and Delhi to arrest research scholar Sharjeel
Imam who has been booked in sedition cases lodged across several states for his
alleged “inflammatory” speeches made during a protest against the
Citizenship (Amendment) Act, police said on Monday.

Five teams
of the Crime Branch have been deployed to locate Imam, a resident of Bihar,
they said.

Imam, a PhD
student at the Jawaharlal Nehru University’s Centre for Historical Studies, has
also been summoned by the JNU chief proctor. He has asked Imam to appear before
the Proctorial Committee by February 3 and explain his position on the alleged
provocative speeches.

A case
against Imam, who was one of the initial organisers of Shaheen Bagh protests,
under IPC sections 124 A (an offence by words, either spoken or written causes
disaffection against Government established by law), 153 A (promoting enmity
between different religious groups with an intent to create disharmony) and 505
(statements conducing to public mischief) was registered by the Delhi Police on
Sunday.

Also, a case
of sedition was lodged against him on Saturday for a speech he delivered on the
Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) campus on January 16. The Assam Police has also
filed an FIR under the anti-terror law UAPA against Imam for his speech.