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This story is from July 21, 2020

Sharjeel Imam tests positive in Guwahati jail, transfer to Delhi delayed

Sharjeel Imam tests positive in Guwahati jail, transfer to Delhi delayed
GUWAHATI: Jawaharlal Nehru University student Sharjeel Imam, who has been lodged at Guwahati Central Jail on sedition charges, after being accused of making inflammatory speech at an anti-CAA protest last year, has 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 Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for his alleged inflammatory speeches made during protests 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 now been shifted to a Covid care centre.
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 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 six days back 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."
Earlier, the state’s RTI activist and leader of a peasant’s group, Akhil Gogoi and his associates Bittu Sonowal and Dhairjya Konwar, who were lodged with Sharjeel in the Guwahati jail had tested positive for Covid-19.
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About the Author
Prabin Kalita

Prabin Kalita is a journalist at The Times of India and is currently the Chief of Bureau (northeast). He has been reporting in mainstream Indian national media since 2001. He has been a field journalist reporting gamut of issues from India’s northeastern region and major developments in neighbouring countries like Myanmar, China, Bhutan and Bangladesh concerning India and northeastern region. He has been covering insurgency—internal and cross-border, politics, natural calamities, environment etc. He is a post-graduate in Geological Sciences from Gauhati University.

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