JNU sedition case: Kanhaiya Kumar calls for speedy trial after Delhi govt’s nod for prosecution

Kanhaiya Kumar delivering his speech in JNU in February 2016. (Express archive)

The Delhi government on Friday gave its nod to the city police to prosecute former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar and two others in connection with a 2016 sedition case. The file has been with the Home department since May 5 last year.

Reacting to this, Kanhaiya Kumar urged the government officials and the police to ensure a speedy trial in a fast track court. “There is a need for fast track courts and speedy action in the sedition so that the country can know how the sedition law has been misused in this entire case for political gains and to divert people from their basic issues,” he said  in a tweet.

दिल्ली सरकार को सेडिशन केस की परमिशन देने के लिए धन्यवाद। दिल्ली पुलिस और सरकारी वक़ीलों से आग्रह है कि इस केस को अब गंभीरता से लिया जाए, फॉस्ट ट्रैक कोर्ट में स्पीडी ट्रायल हो और TV वाली ‘आपकी अदालत’ की जगह क़ानून की अदालत में न्याय सुनिश्चित किया जाए। सत्यमेव जयते।

— Kanhaiya Kumar (@kanhaiyakumar) February 28, 2020

According to official records, the police had applied to the Delhi government for prosecution sanction just two hours before filing the chargesheet in the case on January 14 last year.

Read | Why governments like to use the sedition law

In the absence of a sanction, the court has been deferring taking cognizance of the chargesheet.

#JUSTIN: The Delhi government’s home department has given prosecution sanction to the Delhi Police in the 2016 JNU sedition case. The file has been with the Home department since May 5 last year. @IndianExpress, @ieDelhi

— Mahender Singh (@mahendermanral) February 28, 2020

The police had claimed in the chargesheet that Kumar was leading a procession and supported seditious slogans raised on the campus during an event on February 9, 2016. Besides Kumar, then JNU students Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya and others were chargesheeted for allegedly shouting “anti-India slogans” during the event held to mark the hanging of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.