New Delhi, February 28: The Delhi Government on Friday permitted the prosecution of former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student and Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Kanhaiya Kumar in the 2016 sedition case. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal gave the permission after Delhi Police requested the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government to expedite the process of sanctioning prosecution. JNU Sedition Case Against Kanhaiya Kumar: Delhi Court Raps AAP Government Over Delay in Sanction.

Kumar was booked under sedition case for allegedly chanting "anti-national" slogans on the university campus during an event on February 9, 2016. A chargesheet was filed by the police in January 2019 against the CPI leader, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya.

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In the letter, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Special Cell, Pramod Kushwah said, "It is requested to expedite the process to accord prosecution sanction under Section 196 CrPC as required for the offence under Chapter VI of the IPC, that is, Section 124A IPC."

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court rejected a petition of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader seeking direction to the Delhi government to sanction the prosecution of Kumar. The plea was filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nand Kishore Garg.

On February 6, a Delhi Court had also slammed the AAP government for delaying clearance to prosecute the former JNU student in the sedition case. Earlier, Kejriwal had said that he would ask the department concerned to take an "early decision" on the prosecution sanction against the former JNU students' union president and others in a sedition case. The chief minister's comments came hours after Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Purushottam Pathak directed the Delhi government to file a status report till April 3 on the issue.

 

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 28, 2020 08:20 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).