Don’t Blink: Your ‘Media trials’ can’t let the Movement Down! — Free Sharjeel Imam

by Musaib Hussain

On 26 January, Sharjeel Imam was slapped with draconian laws like UAPA and Sedition. And is in police custody.

But Who is he? An IIT-JEE topper and ex-ITT Bombay computer science B.Tech and M.Tech, currently PhD Student at JNU. Amidst the recent CAA protest, Sharjeel Imam proposed the idea of Chakka Jam or road blockade as a mode of protest. Chakka jam protests had been done in past by Gandhi himself, with satyagraha and civil disobedience movement as an example from the pre-independence period.

But how did he land in Jail while simply calling for a Road-Blockade? The right-wing media circulated doctored videos of a speech he delivered in Aligarh, showing he called for Assam’s secession from India but in reality, it was just a Chakka Jaam. Based on the media trials, he is being tried with sedition and UAPA by 5 states of India- Delhi, U.P, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur. All for Speech out of Context. He is one among many political and student leaders who are being witch-hunted by the state like Akhil Gogoi and Sharjeel Usmani.

What made the States charge him with UAPA? His Muslim identity. while Anurag Thakur whose inflammatory speeches that incite violence is free, and Komal Sharma who was responsible for JNU violence is roaming free.

He is now in Jail for calling for chakka jam across India against CAA and is hounded by the State machinery. If you don’t stand for Sharjeel Imam now, guess who will be the next victim of sedition for dissenting? YOU.

Musaib Hussain on Instagram: "On 26 January, Sharjeel Imam was slapped with draconian laws like…