New Delhi: A Delhi court on Wednesday directed the Delhi Police to urge the Delhi government to expedite the sanction process to prosecute former JNU Student’s Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar and others in a sedition case. The matter is related to anti-national slogans allegedly raised during a February 2016 event on the campus of JNU. Subsequently, the case was filed against Kumar among others.
During the hearing at the Patiala House Court today, the Delhi Police told the court that the sanction is still pending and was hoping to obtain the same very soon. The court also rapped the Delhi government, saying it cannot sit on a file for an indefinite time. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Deepak Sherawat adjourned the matter to February 28, granting more time to the Delhi Police for obtaining the sanction for prosecution.
On January 24, Delhi Law Minister Kailash Gehlot sent a show-cause notice to Principal Law Secretary AK Mendiratta for clearing without his approval the sanction to prosecute former JNU students in the sedition case. Gehlot sought an explanation from the Law Secretary for sending the file directly to the Principal Home Secretary, stating that Mendiratta deliberately did to bypass him.
On January 14, the Delhi Police had filed the charge sheet in the court stating the sanction for prosecution was pending before the government. Under the Criminal Procedure Code, the court cannot take cognisance of the police charge sheet without sanction from the home department of the state concerned. As per the 112-page charge sheet, Kumar was leading a procession and supported seditious slogans raised on the JNU campus during an event held in February 2016.
Police also charged former JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya for allegedly shouting anti-national slogans during the event to mark the hanging of Parliament attack mastermind Afzal Guru.
