Sharjeel Imam, a computer science graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and currently a PhD student in the Department of History and Culture at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, has been charged with sedition in five states and is accused of inciting the anti-CAA violence at Jamia Milia on December 15.
Wiki/Biography
Sharjeel Imam was born in Kako, Jehanabad in 1988 and grew up in Patna and Jehanabad, Bihar (now 36 years old; 2024). After attending St. Xavier’s High School in Patna, he moved to Delhi and completed his Intermediate Education from Delhi Public School Vasant Kunj in 2006. Imam has always been an academic ace; he successfully cracked the JEE entrance exam in his first attempt and thus secured a seat in the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, where he studied an integrated B Tech-M Tech course in Computer Science.
Sharjeel Imam in his dormitory at IIT Bombay in 2007
While studying at IIT, Bombay, Imam worked as a freelance programmer for two months at the IT University of Copenhagen in Denmark. He also got an opportunity to work as a teaching assistant at IIT, Bombay in his final year of graduation. After graduating in July 2011, Imam was hired as a software engineer by the American multinational company “Juniper Networks” and worked there for two years before leaving in February 2013. During his seven years working at IIT and the corporate world, Imam believed that propaganda and prejudice against the Muslim community were widely spread and practiced, and this was taken as fact by the uninformed, partly because the presence of Muslims in the upper echelons (referring to IIT and the corporate world) was minimal, so there was no one to refute them. With this preconceived idea, Imam decided to quit his job and continue his studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, which he considered to be the center of secularism. In 2013, he entered Jawaharlal Nehru University to pursue a master’s degree in modern history. During his long academic career at JNU, he completed his Master of Philosophy in Modern Indian History in 2017. After obtaining his Master of Philosophy, he began to pursue a PhD in Modern Indian History. After entering JNU, Imam was immediately attracted to the left-wing student party of the university. In 2013, he joined the largest left-wing party, the All India Students’ Association (AISA), and ran as a candidate for the party’s parliament, but eventually quit the party shortly after the disappearance of Najeeb Ahmed in 2015.
appearance
Height (approximate): 5′ 7″
Hair color: Black
Eye color: Black
Family and caste
Family background (religion and caste)
Sharjeel Imam belongs to a Muslim family.
parents
Sharjeel Imam’s father Syed Akbar Imam was a local politician and a close aide of Nitish Kumar (politician). His father had even contested the 2005 Bihar Assembly elections on behalf of the JDU party but lost to SN Yadav (RJD) by 447 votes. Sharjeel’s father later died of bone cancer in 2014. His mother. His mother Afshan Rahim is a housewife.
Afshan Rahim, mother of Shagil Imam
He has a younger brother, Muzzammil Imam, who is a local politician and social activist who has studied for a master’s degree in journalism and mass communication from Amity University. Sharjeel and Muzzammil are said to be close to Jehanabad politicians, including former Jehanabad MP Arun Kumar.
Sharjeel Imam with his brother Muzzammil Imam and former Jahanabad MP Arun Kumar in February 2018
Shaheen Bagh protest and ‘Chakka Jam’
After the introduction of CAB in India, protests in Delhi started to intensify. Sharjeel organized road blockades at different places as part of the protests under the pretext of “Chakka Jam”. Afreen Fatima, a friend of Sharjeel at JNU, said in a speech at JNU:
From day one, Sharjeel has been talking about how our protests can get the attention of the government and civil society. The government doesn’t care about us, especially Muslims, so he called for ‘Chakka Jam’ (roadblocks) just to make the government listen to us, and his idea of launching the Shaheen Bagh protest was also born out of the same idea.”
He soon became the face of anti-CAA protests in Delhi after organising several anti-CAA protests and participating in the Shaheen Bagh protest. Sharjeel was reportedly a participant in the anti-CAA protests on the night of December 15 when the protest at Jamia Milia University suddenly turned violent and the crowd turned violent and started pelting stones at Delhi Police, multiple vehicles were set on fire and public and private properties were damaged in the violence. Sharjeel’s name figures in the charge sheet filed by the Delhi Police as one of the main instigators of the violence on December 15. According to the Delhi Police, Sharjeel convinced people to join and spread his ‘Chakka Jam’ movement through his inflammatory speeches against the government until they get justice.
dispute
Sharjeel’s name has cropped up at various locations in Delhi and other states of India for his frequent inflammatory speeches. Sharjeel went absconding on January 25 after a video of his alleged inflammatory speech at Aligarh Muslim University went viral. In the video, he said:
Assam aur India katke alag ho jaaye, tabhi ye humari baat sunenge (Only when India and Assam cut ties with each other will they listen to us).”
He further elaborated in the video that by blocking the chicken’s neck (Siliguri Corridor), the northeastern states including Assam could be cut off from the rest of the country.
After his video went viral on social media, multiple criminal cases were filed against him in Delhi and four other states (Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh). On January 28, 2020, he was arrested from his ancestral home in Jehanabad Kako in a joint operation by the Delhi Police and the Bihar Police.
On Saturday, JNU student Sharjeel Imam was brought to his residence in New Delhi to appear before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of the Patiala House Court.
However, Sharjeel claimed through his Twitter that he has surrendered to the police.
I have surrendered to the Delhi Police on 28th January 2020 at 3 pm. I am ready and willing to be investigated. I have full faith in due process of law. My safety is now in the hands of the Delhi Police. Peace be upon you. pic.twitter.com/fTKeWY5hb8
— Sharjeel Imam (@_imaams) January 28, 2020
Sharjeel was later charged with treason and spreading enmity between communities under Sections 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting or attempting to promote disharmony or enmity on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or on any other ground) and 505 (intent to incite persons of any class or community to commit any offence against any other class or community) of the Indian Penal Code. On January 24, 2022, a Delhi court charged him for making inflammatory speeches during the 2019 anti-CAA protests in Delhi. On May 29, 2024, the Delhi High Court granted him bail in a 2020 communal riots case, where he was charged with sedition and unlawful activities; however, he remains in jail as another conspiracy case related to the 2020 Delhi riots is pending.
Facts/Trivia
- Sharjeel’s teachers remember him as a bright and talented student.
“I don’t know anyone who has such a deep knowledge of Indian history. He can talk at length about Eqbal Ahmed and Allama Iqbal,” said Afreen Fatima, one of his friends from JNU.
- Sharjeel has always had a keen interest in Islamic theory.
- Sharjeel Imam claimed in an article for Indian news media website Firstpost that he was the only Muslim student among 200 students in his class at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.
- Sharjeel has been studying at JNU since 2013.
- Sharjeel’s brother Muzzammil Imam was also one of the coordinators of the Shaheen Bagh protest.
- According to reports, Shergill was often criticized by a section of the society for writing inflammatory articles in various magazines and online media portals such as The Wire and Firstpost.
- In an article, Sharjeel detailed his experience of prejudice during his time at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).
- Sharjeel Imam’s name was mentioned in the charge sheet filed by the Delhi Police after one of the accused in the December 15 violence claimed that he was incited by the Imam’s speech.
- After his arrest, students from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) expressed their support for him.
- On July 21, 2020, Shrajeel Imam, who was lodged in Guwahati Jail, tested positive for the coronavirus.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education