The Patiala House Court has given the Delhi government one month's time on September 18, to decide on the sanction of the charge sheet to prosecute former JNU Students' Union President Kanhaiya Kumar and others in the sedition case. This decision was taken by the court after the Delhi Police informed the court that the file regarding sanction is pending with the Home Department. The court has posted the matter for October 25 and has asked to file all the reports regarding the case by then.

'Wastage of judicial time'

The Cheif Metropolitan Magistrate Manish Khurana speaking on the case said, "The time which is being taken to finalise the issue of sanction or otherwise has caused wasted of judicial time as the case had been listed and adjourned repeatedly since the filing of the charge sheet. It is expected of the Delhi government that the decision regarding the sanction or otherwise would be taken within one month so that further processing in the present case may be done," the court said.

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Lawyer Writes To Delhi LG On Prosecution Sanction

Earlier on September 9, Supreme Court lawyer Ajay Agarwal wrote a letter to Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) rejected the request for sanction by Delhi police to prosecute Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Student Union President Kanhaiya Kumar and others in the sedition case. He requested Baijal to call for files to refuse or give the sanction of prosecution and said it should not come under the preview of Delhi government.

However, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said on September 6, that he denied rejection in this matter while expressing that no decision has been taken regarding the prosecution of Kanhaiya Kumar and others in the sedition case, refuting the prosecution as being just a "speculation". Adding that the decision lies with the concerned authority.

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The JNU sedition case

In February 2016, some students of the Jawarharlal Nehru University (JNU) held protests shouting anti-India slogans against capital punishment of Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhat and struggle of Kashmiri migrants. Days after the event, Kanhiaya Kumar and a few others were arrested on charges of sedition. On January 14, the police had filed a 1200-pages charge sheet in the court against Kumar and others, including former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, saying they were leading a procession and supported seditious slogans raised on the campus during an event on February 9, 2016. The complaint was lodged under the allegation of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad’s (ABVP) students. On July 23 this year, the Delhi police were granted time till September 18, to obtain the requisite sanction in the case. The police in the charge sheet stated there were videos of Kanhiaya Kumar leading the students and raising anti-national slogans. 

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(with PTI inputs)