A US government organisation’s statement on Saturday, November 14, that JNU research scholar and activist Sharjeel Imam has been held in jail since 2020 “for his religious freedom advocacy” has evoked a sharp reaction of protest from India.
India’s Ambassador to the United States Vinay Mohan Kwatra said US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) had “no locus standi” to pass judgment on the constitutional rights of Indian citizens.
The reaction came after USCIRF, a US federal government commission with its commissioners appointed by the President and the leadership of both the political parties in the Senate and the House of Representatives, shared on X the profile of Sharjeel Imam, describing him as “a Muslim man detained in India for his religious freedom advocacy”.
ALSO READ: Actor Tiger Shroff sells off his Mumbai flat; 11 people held in firing incident
USCIRF periodically reviews the facts and circumstances of violations of religious freedom internationally and makes policy recommendations to the US President, the secretary of state and Congress.
“USCIRF has no locus standi to sit in judgment over the constitutional rights of Indian citizens. Its habitual partisan, ill-informed, and jaundiced assessments cannot diminish India’s constitutional commitment to religious freedom and equal rights for all faiths,” said Kwatra in an X post.
Also read: Iran says Trump will have to take his dream of having US military ships in the Gulf “to his grave”
Sharjeel Imam, 38, is a resident of Bihar’s Jehanabad district. A computer science graduate from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay, he enrolled at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi, for a masters’ degree in modern history and then started PhD there.
Imam, the son of former Janata Dal (United) leader late Akbar Imam, came into limelight during the massive protests in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh against the controversial CAA-NRC (Citizenship Amendment Act, and National Register of Citizens) in December 2019 and January 2020.
ALSO READ: Bike-borne terrorists fire at CRPF camp in J&K’s Kulgam, leave 3 personnel injured
A statement Sharjeel Imam allegedly made on January 16, 2020, in a public speech led to registration of FIRs against him in five states on grounds of treason. He allegedly advocated the cutting off of the northeastern states from the rest of country in that speech. He had allegedly said that if five lakh people came together, they could cut the Northeast off India. Imam has since clarified that he was speaking of road blockades, and not about secession or sedition.
While Imam has been widely painted by the ruling BJP as a man with separatist opinions, his supporters have been claiming that a 40-second video of his 40-minute speech has been misrepresented and exaggerated to demonise him, especially because he is a Muslim and was opposing CAA-NRC.
Also read:17 inmates of a jail in Tamil Nadu escape; 13 held within 20 hours; it was 2nd jailbreak in 2 weeks
After police cases were registered against him in Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Delhi, Imam was arrested in his village in Jehanabad in January 2020. He has been in jail since. His regular bail pleas in the 2020 Delhi riots “larger conspiracy” case have been repeatedly denied.
Delhi Police has accused Imam of delivering speeches that allegedly incited communal violence during the anti-CAA-NRC protests. In August 2020, Imam was charged in connection with FIR 59/2020, which relates to the alleged larger conspiracy behind the February 2020 North-East Delhi riots. The charges against him include offences under the Indian Penal Code and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), relating to rioting, murder, promoting enmity, unlawful activities and alleged terrorist acts.
Also watch VIDEO: Two young women fight with an autorickshaw driver on a Bengaluru street
Imam was granted a seven-day interim bail from October 4 to October 10, 2026, by Delhi’s Karkardooma Courts to attend his cousin’s wedding in Patna. Although Delhi Police moved to cancel the interim bail alleging he violated restrictions by appearing near a media interview of his brother, the court declined to cancel it, noting he was scheduled to surrender that evening. He returned to judicial custody (Tihar Jail) upon the expiration of the interim period.
