JNU Sedition Case: Delhi Govt Gives Nod To Prosecute Former JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar, 2 Others

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi has given a go-ahead to the city police to prosecute former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar and two others in connection with a 2016 sedition case, sources said on Friday. The police had filed a charge sheet against Kumar and others, including former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya on January 14, 2019. They were charged with leading a procession and supporting the seditious slogans allegedly raised on the campus during an event on February 9, 2016. Delhi Police was awaiting permission from the government on prosecuting the case.

In the 1,200-page charge sheet, police claimed it has video clips to prove the offence which has been corroborated by the statements of the witnesses and that Kumar was leading a procession and allegedly supported seditious slogans raised on the JNU campus in February 2016.

The accused were named in the charge sheet for allegedly shouting anti-India slogans during an event on the university's campus on February 9, 2016, to commemorate the hanging of Parliament-attack mastermind Afzal Guru. The other seven accused chargesheeted in the case are Kashmiri students Aquib Hussain, Mujeeb Hussain, Muneeb Hussain, Umar Gul, Rayeea Rassol, Bashir Bhat and Basharat, some of them were then studying in JNU, Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia.

The accused have been charged with offences under sections 124A (sedition), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record), 143 (punishment for being a member of an unlawful assembly), 149 (being a member of an unlawful assembly), 147 (punishment for rioting) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The accused have been charge sheeted on the basis of electronic evidence, including CCTV footage and mobile footage, and documentary evidence, which include statements of students and security guards. 

(With PTI Inputs)