Anti-CAA activist Sharjeel Imam tests positive in Guwahati jail

GUWAHATI: Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Sharjeel Imam, who has been lodged in the Guwahati Central Jail on sedition charges after being accused of making inflammatory speeches at an anti-CAA protest last year, tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday.
Sharjeel was brought on transit remand by Assam Police from New Delhi for allegedly inciting people to “cut off” Assam from the rest of the country at an anti-CAA protest rally at Aligarh last January. He was earlier arrested from Bihar by Delhi Police under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act his his alleged inflammatory speeches during anti-CAA protests.
A team of Delhi Police Special Cell, which had reached Guwahati on Friday to take Sharjeel’s custody and take him back to New Delhi, where he was scheduled to be produced before a Delhi court on July 25, has now delayed his transfer, an official source said.
Sharjeel and the Delhi Police team were tested for Covid-19 before their departure from Guwahati, but while the police team tested negative, the student activist tested positive and has been shifted to a Covid care centre here.
Sharjeel’s brother, Muzzammil Imam, a social and political activist, in his tweet said, “As per the conversation between my brother Sharjeel Imam and his advocate, it has been informed to us that Sharjeel has been tested a positive for Covid-19. He further informed about the unmanageable condition of the Guwahati Central Jail where over 600 inmates (out of 1100) have tested positive and very few are being given proper medical facilities. Hundreds of positive patients are being forced to live in inhumane condition inside the jail premises itself.”
Muzzammil in an earlier tweet had said, “My brother Sharjeel Imam informed me that the situation in the jail is worrisome. The jail administration is trying its best but lack of infrastructure is making it difficult. He wants better facilities for all the inmates.”