A Delhi court ordered framing of charges against Sharjeel Imam in the Jamia Millia violence case - five years after he was arrested on charges of sedition and making inflammatory speeches during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens.
In its order Monday evening, the Saket court called Mr Imam the "kingpin of a larger conspiracy" and claimed his December 13 speech was "venomous" and "calculated to evoke hatred".
Specifically, the court referred to meetings with Jamia Millia students and other protesters on December 13, 2019, at 2 pm and 7 pm, that led to "traffic jam on public roads (and) rioting".
"... again on December 13, 2019, at around 7 pm, the accused addressed persons gathered outside Gate No 7 (of) Jamia University and gave an inflammatory speech for 10 minutes, in which he termed the CAA and NRC (National Register of Citizens) as 'anti-Muslim'..."
The court reasoned Mr Imam, "in order to provoke the Muslim community and incite violence against the CAA" had conducted these public meetings and distributed inflammatory leaflets in areas of Munirka, Nizamuddin, Shaheen Bagh and Jamia Nagar (areas in the city)".
His speeches, the court also claimed, had "incited violence to pressurise the government".
The result of these talks, the court was told, was widespread violence in parts of Delhi, violence that included arson and vandalism of public property, including Delhi Transport Corporation buses and police and private vehicles, as well as incidents of stone-throwing.
At least 10 police officials were injured by the mob instigated by Mr Imam, the court said, acknowledging also, however, the absence of evidence of intention to kill.
His speeches, it further said, were "craftily clothed", because Mr Imam was a PhD student at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, to "avoid mention of communities other than Muslim... but the intended victims of chukka jam (a sit-in protest) were members of other communities".
"His speech was calculated to evoke anger and hatred, the natural consequence of which was commission of widespread violence by members of unlawful assembly on public roads. His speech was venomous and pitted one religion against another. It was hate speech."
The court also noted, briefly, and dismissed Mr Imam's argument, including a contention that he could not be charged with promoting enmity between religious groups in this case as an identical charge had been levelled in another instance.
Mr Imam had surrendered to Delhi Police on January 28, 2020.
This was after multiple cases - including a sedition case in Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh and another alleging promotion of enmity between religions in Delhi - were filed against him.
The police also framed charges under stringent anti-terror law UAPA, or Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. It is these charges Delhi's Saket court framed this evening.
The cases, and his arrest, were widely condemned by politicians, fellow students, and academics, who said he had been detained for being a Muslim and had not committed a crime.
Much of the furore then was about a section of Mr Imam's speech on the NRC in January 2020, in which he called on protesters in Assam to blockade the Siliguri Corridor, or the 'chicken's neck', i.e., the narrow strip of land that connects northeast India to the rest of the country.
Manipur Police filed a case against him over that remark.
In May 2024 Mr Imam had been granted bail by the Delhi High Court in another case - related to the CAA speeches. However, he remained in the Guwahati Central Jail in Assam as he had also been arrested in this case.
With input from agencies
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