Assam Police Reaches out to Tihar Jail, Demands Custody of Sharjeel Imam

Guwahati, February 13, 2020:

Assam Police are liaising with the Tihar Jail authorities to bring Anti Citizenship (Amendment) Act activist Sharjeel Imam to Guwahati for interrogation.

While speaking with Inside Northeast, Commissioner of Police, Guwahati, Munna Prasad Gupta said, “Custody warrant has been served to Tihar jail authorities and now it is the responsibility of Tihar jail authority to bring him (Sharjeel Imam) here. We are in liaison with Tihar Jail and we will try to get him as early as possible.”

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Imam, who is currently in judicial custody, was arrested on sedition charges for allegedly making hate speeches against the amended Citizenship Act and the planned National Register of Citizens. The Assam context came in when he made a provocative statement while addressing a gathering.

In a video that went viral, Imam was seen saying, “If 5 lakh Muslims are organised, then we can cut off the North-east from rest of India. If we cannot do permanently…at least we can cut North-east from India for months.” He added, “Our responsibility is to cut the Assam from India then Govt will hear our voice. If we have to help Assam, then we will have to cut the Assam from the rest of India.”

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The Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur Governments had filed cases against the Shaheen Bagh protester, following which, the Assam Police department had informed that Imam will be brought to the state for interrogation.

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