JNU Sedition Case: Delhi Government Refuses To Prosecute Kanhaiya Kumar & Others

The Delhi government has decided to turn down the Delhi Police request for sanction to prosecute former JNU Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar and other students who have been accused of sedition

The Home Department is of the view that the activities of the accused, during an event on campus on February 9, 2016, “do not amount to sedition against the State”. The case is scheduled to come up in a city court on September 18.

Police, in its charge sheet, had claimed that Kumar was leading a procession and supported seditious slogans raised on campus during the event held to mark the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. Police also charged JNU students Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya, and others in the case.

The accused have been charged with offences under IPC sections 124A (sedition), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 465 (punishment for forgery), 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).

IPC Section 124-A (sedition) requires prior sanction from a competent authority and in case sanction is not given, the court can raise objections after looking at the contents of the charge sheet.