JNU’s Sharjeel Imam tests positive for Covid-19 in Guwahati jail

Sharjeel Imam was arrested for delivering a ‘seditious’ speech and ‘abetting’ riots in Jamia Millia Islamia area in December last year.

Sharjeel Imam, a Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student arrested in February for his ‘cut off Assam’ remark during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), has tested positive for coronavirus inside Guwahati central jail, officials confirmed on Tuesday.

Sharjeel Imam was arrested in January this year from Bihar before he was taken to Assam (Amal KS/HT PHOTO/File)

Imam was arrested by Delhi Police from Bihar in February this year before being brought to Assam where he was lodged in the jail.

Assam Police had registered a case against Imam after a video of him stating that Assam should be cut-off from the rest of India, during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protest, went viral.

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Imam is among the 400 plus cases of Covid-19 detected in Guwahati central jail in the past few days. Earlier, peasant leader Akhil Gogoi, who was lodged in the same jail for anti-CAA protests, had also tested positive for the virus. He is undergoing treatment at present.

While most of the inmates have recovered, 154 of them are still under treatment.

On Monday, the Assam Human Rights Commission (AHRC) issued a notice to the state government directing it to submit a report on the condition of jails and prisoners lodged there in view of the threat posed by Covid-19 pandemic.