Anti-CAA protagonist Sharjeel Imam tests positive for COVID in jail

Sharjeel Imam, an IIT-Bombay alumni, jailed in Assam over his alleged involvement in anti- CAA protests, has tested positive for COVID-19, a top official said on Tuesday.

Sharjeel Imam, an IIT-Bombay alumni, jailed in Assam over his alleged involvement in anti- CAA protests, has tested positive for COVID-19, a top official said on Tuesday. Swab samples of Imam and some other inmates were tested earlier and the results came today, Inspector General (Prisons) Dasarath Das said.

Imam, charged with sedition, was earlier scheduled to be taken to Delhi but will now be shifted to a hospital here for treatment, he said. He was actively involved in the Shaheen Bagh protest in the national capital against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, and was booked under the sedition law for his speech where he allegedly threatened to cut off Assam from the rest of the country through "violent means".

He was brought here in January for interrogation and is lodged in Guwahati Central Jail. Das said that 435 inmates of the jail have so far tested positive for COVID-19 including activist and peasant leader Akhil Gogoi.

Meanwhile, Muzammil Imam, his brother, tweeted that Sharjeel has been infected with COVID-19 and claimed only a few at the correctional facility were getting proper medical attention. He claimed over 600 inmates at the prison, where 1,100 people where lodged, were afflicted by the contagion. "Hundreds of positive patients are being forced to live in inhumane conditions inside the jail premises itself.

Pray for his health and safety," he wrote.