A Delhi court on Thursday directed the prison authorities to produce CCTV camera footage after activist Sharjeel Imam alleged that the Tihar Jail assistant superintendent had assaulted him inside his cell, Live Law reported.

On July 4, Imam, an accused in the Delhi riots larger conspiracy case, had filed a plea about harassment inside the prison. He alleged that the jail assistant superintendent along with eight to 10 persons had entered his cell under the pretext of conducting a search and then proceeded to assault him, called the activist a terrorist and an anti-national.

Advertisement

On Thursday, Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat sought the CCTV footage from all cameras at the spot between 6 pm and 8 pm on June 30, when the alleged incident occurred. The judge also asked the Tihar Jail superintendent to appear for the next day of hearing on July 20, Live Law reported.

In his plea, Imam had claimed that the persons who were with the jail official during the assault were convicts. He also alleged that those who entered his cell tried to place some contraband in his possession.

The jail superintendent did not take any action on the matter, Imam has submitted in his plea, according to Live Law.

Advertisement

Imam, a former student of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, was charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in April 2020 for making allegedly inflammatory speeches against the government’s Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

Three months later, the police had accused him of sedition. A chargesheet against him said that his speeches incited the 2020 Delhi riots.

While he was granted bail by the Allahabad High Court in November for his speech at Aligarh University, he did not walk free from Tihar jail as he was also charged in the Delhi riots larger conspiracy case.

The Delhi Police have claimed in the first information report that there was a larger conspiracy which led to the violence that erupted in the national capital in February 2020, in which 53 people, mostly Muslims, were killed.