Ramjas College row: Delhi Court orders police to verify authenticity of video in which alleged anti-national slogans were raised

Police was on Monday ordered by a court to file a report on a plea for an FIR in the Ramjas College incident in which alleged anti-national slogans were raised but questioned the complainant on the genuineness of the video.

The court directed the SHO of Maurice Nagar police station in North Delhi to file an action taken report (ATR) on the complaint by March 30 and asked the complainant to submit a chronology of events of February 21 and 22 when the clashes allegedly took place.

“Notice be issued to the SHO concerned to file ATR before the court on March 30,” Metropolitan Magistrate Abhilash Malhotra said.

The magistrate asked the advocate, who is also complainant in the matter, whether the video of the alleged incident was shot by him and what was the source of the footage.

“Have you shot the video yourself? We are in an electronic age now and videos are being doctored. So we cannot believe in it. Even you are not sure about its genuineness,” the court said.

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To this, complainant Vivek Garg and advocate Puneet Goel said he was not aware of the person who shot the video and added that the CD made from video was shown by news channels and at social media. He said a certificate under the Evidence Act can be given by the reporter who had shot the video.

“It is a fact that an offence was committed at Ramjas College but who did it is a matter of investigation. No case has been lodged by the police on the incident that took place on February 21,” Goel argued.

Narrating the chain of events, Garg said JNU student Umar Khalid, against who a sedition case was lodged last year, was “deliberately” invited as a speaker in the seminar in Ramjas College and when the authorities got to know about it, they withdrew the permission to conduct the event.

He alleged that the leaders and students of All India Students Association (AISA) and Students Federation of India (SFI) raised anti-national slogans in the college and the slogans were against the sovereignty and integrity of the country and prima facie a sedition case is made out.

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