New Delhi: A court here on Saturday discharged student activist Sharjeel Imam and ten others in the 2019 Jamia violence case, reported PTI.
Sharjeel was earlier granted bail in the case in 2021. Apart from Sharjeel, the court also discharged Asif Iqbal Tanha saying that they were made ‘scapegoats’ by the police.
Additional Sessions Judge Arul Verma discharged them in a case registered at the Jamia Nagar police station in 2019
Violence had erupted on the Jamia Milia University campus in December 2019 after a clash broke out between people protesting against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the police. Police had registered an FIR under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including rioting in connection with the violence case.
Sharjeel Imam was accused of instigating the riots by delivering a provocative speech at the Jamia Milia University on December 13, 2019. According to PTI, Imam will continue to remain in custody in other FIRs registered against him in connection with the 2020 North-East Delhi riots. Notably, both Imam and Tanha are accused in the Special Cell’s case alleging that there was a larger conspiracy behind the Northeast Delhi riots, it added.
The court observed that the accused were merely present at the protest site and there was no incriminating evidence against them, reported PTI. The court said that dissent is an extension of the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression, and has to be encouraged