Sharjeel Imam sent to five-day police custody for 'cut Assam from India' remark

Sharjeel Imam, the JNU student and anti-CAA activist who was arrested on Tuesday, has been sent to a five-day police custody by a Delhi court. He was earlier produced before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Patiala House courts, at his residence post a medical checkup.

"Due to security reasons, Imam was produced before the CMM Patiala House court`s residence," a senior officer of Delhi Police Crime Branch said.

Imam was arrested by the Delhi Police on Tuesday from Bihar's Jehanabad district over his recent controversial comments. The Delhi Police had earlier lodged an FIR against Imam for sedition.

Earlier in the day, he was brought to Delhi from Patna on transit remand after he spent the night in a police lock-up there.

Multiple FIRs were filed against Sharjeel over his speech at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) campus on January 16 where he reportedly said "Assam should be cut off from the rest of India". He had been booked by the UP Police, Assam Police, and later the Delhi Police.

A series of videos recently went viral on social media where it appeared that Imam, the chief co-ordinator of the protest at Shaheen Bagh, was saying, "If all of us come together, we can separate the Northeast from India. If we cannot do it permanently, then at least for 1-2 months we can do this. It will take the administration at least one month to disperse all of them."

Delhi Police on Sunday booked Sharjeel Imam for allegedly delivering inflammatory speeches against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC).

The case by Delhi Police was registered 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).