Shielding accused?: Delhi govt sends showcause notice to bureaucrat for clearing 2016 JNU Sedition case file

Delhi Law Minister Kailash Gahlot has taken on the Principal Secretary for clearing a file on the 2016 JNU sedition case without his ministry's approval. The ministry has issued a showcause notice to Principal Secretary AK Mendiratta. The ministry has also written to Delhi High Court chief justice.

Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and seven others have been named in the chargesheet by the Delhi Police.

There was enough delay in the case as the court has not taken cognisance the of chargesheet due to the delay in clearing legal procedures and the nod to the procsecution from the state government. 

The law minister’s show-cause notice to Principal Secretary AK Mendiratta pointed to Rule 13 of the transaction of business rules. It states that no decision or views can be communicated by any principal secretary without the approval of the minister in-charge.

Gahlot has said that the prosecution file should be sent to the law department for a review.

Here is the show cause notice below:

The state goverment had received the files on January 14 but it has not taken any action on it yet.

The Delhi Police on Saturday had made a shocking revelation in front of the Patiala House Court in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) sedition case, informing the judges that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Delhi government has not given cops the sanction on the chargesheet.

In the court, the judge, while hearing the case, pulled up the Delhi Police for going ahead with the chargesheet without getting the nod of the state government. Though, the cops informed the court that they had forwarded the chargesheet to the government on January 10 and the GNCT received it on January 14, but there has been no response till date.

MASSIVE: 'Delhi Government Yet To Sanction JNU Sedition Chargesheet', Reveals Delhi Police To Court

Delhi home minister Satyendar Jain has the prosecution sanction file as of now after the Delhi High Court rapped the Delhi police for filing chargesheet without permission by government's approval.

As per reports, the Delhi Law Minister has written to the chief justice of the Delhi high court, informing about the alleged “insubordination”. The state government has three months to decide before approving a chargesheet filed by the Delhi police.
EXPLOSIVE: These are the 'tukde tukde' slogans raised in the explosive JNU chargesheet tapes accessed by Republic