One year after the Delhi police received a court sanction against the former president of the JNU Student Union, Kanhaiya Kumar, and nine others in the 2016 JNU sedition case, a Delhi court took notice on Monday from the charge sheet and summoned all the defendants on March 15.
On his charge sheet, the police claimed that Kumar led a procession and supported, along with others named as defendants, the seditious slogans raised on the JNU campus on February 9, 2016, during an event to mark the convict’s hanging. by attack by the Afzal Guru Parliament.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (Patiala Chamber Courts) Dr. Pankaj Sharma, while taking cognizance of the indictment against Kumar, Syed Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya, Aquib Hussain, Mujeeb Hussain Gattoo, Muneeb Hussain Gattoo, Umar Gul, Rayhalees Rasool , Basidharatir Ali Khalid and Bhatt said, “The sanction to prosecute the accused has already been presented by the Department of the Interior, GNCT [Delhi government], dated February 27, 2020. After a careful reading of the charge sheet and consideration of the material, all the accused are summoned to trial and have been summoned through the investigating officer by March 15, 2021 “.
Defendants face charges under sections 124A (sedition), 323 (willfully causing harm), 465 (forgery), 471 (using a false document or electronic record as genuine), 143, 149 (being a member of an illegal assembly) , 147 (riots) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).
The wait for the prosecution’s sanction had been irritating between the AAP government in Delhi and the Center. Police claimed that the trial was stalled for lack of sanction and several BJP leaders accused the AAP of protecting the students by not giving the go-ahead.
On February 5 last year, in the run-up to the Delhi Assembly elections, Union Interior Minister Amit Shah said at an election meeting that if the BJP were elected to power, he would grant a sanction prosecution against Kumar and Khalid, as well as Sharjeel Imam, a JNU doctoral student, “within an hour” of forming the government.
On February 27, the AAP government led by Arvind Kejriwal gave the green light to the police to prosecute the accused. In an order, the Undersecretary (Home) stated: “Considering that upon examining the charge sheet under Sections 124-A and 120-B IPC at the Vasant Kunj (North) Police Station, and considering the allegations made in the case, and other recorded material and evidence, it appears to the government of NCT Delhi that the accused persons, prima facie, have committed an offense under Section 124-A and 120-B IPC “Section 124-A of the IPC is related to sedition and 120-B to criminal conspiracy.
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