Sharjeel Imam's plea: Can't pass interim orders without seeing replies of states, says SC
New Delhi: The Supreme Court Friday said it "cannot pass interim orders" without seeing the replies of all the five states on a plea by JNU student and anti-CAA activist Sharjeel Imam who has sought clubbing of multiple FIRs levelling sedition charges against him for allegedly making inflammatory speeches.
The apex court was informed that governments of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh have filed their counter affidavits on Imam's plea but no responses have been filed by Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.
"We cannot pass interim orders without seeing the replies of other states," a bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and V Ramasubramanian said.
The counsel representing Assam sought time to file reply on the plea."We will give time," said the bench, which heard the matter through video-conferencing.
The apex court granted two weeks time to Assam, Manipur and Arunachal to file their replies and said that rejoinder be filed within a week thereafter.
The bench has posted the matter for hearing after three weeks.
Senior advocate Siddharth Dave, appearing for the petitioner, told the court that all these cases lodged against Imam should be consolidated.
The apex court had on May 26 sought responses from Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur on the plea and had given another opportunity to the Delhi government to file its reply in the matter.
On May 1, the top court had sought Delhi government's reply on the plea. In his plea, Imam has also sought transfer of all criminal cases against him to the national capital and probe by a single agency.
Imam's counsel had earlier told the top court that five FIRs have been registered against him in different states in connection with two speeches given in Delhi and in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh.
The lawyer had said that FIRs are lodged against Imam in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh and he has been booked under sedition charges.
Delhi Police has booked Imam under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), he had said.
On January 28, Imam was arrested by Delhi Police's crime branch from Bihar's Jehanabad in a sedition case for allegedly making inflammatory speeches in Jamia Milia Islamia and Aligarh.
The PhD student at the Jawaharlal Nehru University's (JNU) Centre for Historical Studies has been booked on sedition and other charges after purported videos of his alleged inflammatory speeches made during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) were circulated on social media.
An FIR was registered against him by Delhi Police on January 25 under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 124 A (sedition) and 153 A (promoting or attempting to promote disharmony or feelings of enmity on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever) among others.
"Two videos came to light, one was on December 13 at Jamia Millia Islamia and other was on January 16 at Aligarh, where it was noticed that Imam had delivered very inflammatory speeches in opposition to the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens and such comments can potentially affect religious harmony and weaken the unity and integrity of the country," police had said.
A graduate in computer science from IIT-Mumbai, Imam had shifted to Delhi for pursuing research at the Centre for Historical Studies at the JNU.
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19-yr-old woman found hanging from tree in UP village; juvenile held
Lucknow/Pratapgarh (UP) (PTI): Police have apprehended a 16-year-old boy for his alleged involvement in the rape and murder of a 19-year-old woman whose body was found hanging from a tree in a village here, officials said on Monday.
Additional Superintendent of Police (West), Brijnandan Rai, said that the body of a 19-year-old woman was found hanging from a tree in an orchard in the Manikpur police station area on Sunday morning. A post-mortem examination subsequently confirmed that she had been raped.
Police registered a case against unidentified persons under sections 103(1) (punishment for murder) and 70(1) (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and initiated an investigation.
During the course of the investigation, the police found that the deceased was in contact with a juvenile who was also her relative.
Acting on this information, during a joint checking operation, sub-inspector Amit Kumar Singh of Manikpur police station and SOG In-charge Amit Kumar Chaurasia, along with their team, apprehended the 16-year-old near the Lehdari Ganga River bridge.
The search for other accused persons is ongoing, police said.
According to the police, the woman had gone to sleep after dinner on Saturday night but was found hanging in an orchard nearly 400 metres away from her home the following morning.
Additional Superintendent of Police (West), Brijnandan Rai, had earlier said that the circumstances suggest foul play.
"The victim's slippers and undergarments were recovered 50 metres away from the spot where the body was found. There are visible injury marks on her body," Rai said.
While locals have alleged that the woman was murdered after being raped, the ASP said that it is "prima facie a case of murder."
"Based on the complaint filed by the victim's brother, a case of murder has been registered against unidentified persons," the officer added.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, in a post on X in Hindi on Monday, said, "The news of the heinous murder of a Dalit daughter in Pratapgarh is deeply tragic and condemnable."
"The question remains: why does the spate of murders of 'PDA daughters' continue unabated in Uttar Pradesh? Are the BJP government's claims regarding women's safety merely hollow rhetoric, or is there, in fact, discrimination even in the provision of security for women?" he said.
"Whenever the 'wandering Honourable (ghumantu maananiye)' finds a moment of respite from election campaigning, he should cast a glance at the plight of the daughters of his own Uttar Pradesh. In any case, apart from injustice and oppression, no sister, daughter, or mother of this state holds any hope from you," Yadav added.
