Four Years Of Blatant Injustice: Sharjeel Iman ‘The Beacon Of Resilience’ (image-twitter/gabbar009)
January 28 marked four years of wrongful incarceration of JNU student Sharjeel Imam. Imam has completed more than the maximum sentence under Sedition (three years), and more than half the maximum sentence under UAPA Section 13 (7 years), without being convicted in any of the cases.
Imam has been a pioneer in most aspects, but he became the most notable for disrupting the longstanding trend of systematically depoliticizing Muslims of India.
The young icon of resistance was arrested just days after his speech at Aligarh Muslim University during the CAA-NRC protest.
Imam was accused of inciting violence after his speech at AMU delivered on 16 January 2020 went viral, during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC), where he allegedly demanded that Assam be “cut off” from the rest of India.
Though the November 2021 Allahabad High court ruling granted bail to Sharjeel Imam, stating that his speech did not call anyone to bear arms nor did not incite any kind of violence, Sharjeel continues to be imprisoned.
The CAA/NRC Act became a stepping stone for many like him to break the academic comfort zone. The ‘draconian Act’ is said to threaten the whole Muslim community of the country to be stateless if gets implemented. It is widely believed that the law also has the capability to not only transform the Indian constitution but also the foundation of Indian society.
Four years after he was arrested, the Delhi high court has listed Sharjeel’s bail plea 46 times. The court is to hear the plea afresh next month in connection to the Delhi riots. His bail plea in connection with the speeches will also begin afresh next month, reports the wire.
Sharjeel graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology of Bombay holding B Tech and M Tech degrees. After giving up his job, the activist decided to indulge himself in the history of India. He joined the reputable Jawaharlal Nehru University to complete his master”s. His studies and political thoughts were intertwined. Sharjeel voiced out against the prevailing political hierarchy that threatens the rights of the Muslim community both politically and socially.
Sharjeel while speaking to the wire said that he has not received any kind of support from civil society groups and prominent political activities. ‘They choose people who they want to support and who they don’t want to support’, he said claiming that he was constantly targeted and abandoned by various organizations.
Imam was arrested in 2020 after police in five different states – Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh – filed the first information reports against him in connection with speeches he made during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register for Citizens (NRC). He was also charged under sedition and subsequently under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and also named as an accused in the Delhi riots “larger conspiracy” case.
Remembering Sharjeel Imam is a crucial part of safeguarding the inner core of democracy. Just like Sharjeel Imam, many other numerous political prisoners are now reduced to just statistics.
