Delhi’s AAP govt gives nod to prosecution of Kanhaiya Kumar, others in JNU sedition case

The Delhi government on February 28 gave prosecution sanction of former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) president and Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Kanhaiya Kumar and others in a 2016 sedition case to the Delhi Police. The timing of the sanction of the file which has been with the Home department since May 5, 2019 is interesting as Kanhaiya’s Jan-Gan-Man Yatra through Bihar saw huge turnouts culminating in a mega rally at Patna just a day before on February 27.

Also, AAP leaders and supporters’ inertness, while several parts of North East Delhi burnt with more than 40 dead, more than 200 injured and crores of property destroyed and looted, have come in for criticism from many quarters including AAP’s own supporters. This move will further deepen suspicions that AAP’s opposition to the BJP may not be ideological.

Police had applied to the Delhi government for prosecution sanction just two hours before filing the chargesheet in the case on January 14, 2019. The court has been deferring taking cognizance of the chargesheet citing the lack of sanction.

The police had claimed in the chargesheet that Kanhaiya was leading a protest where seditious slogans were raised on the JNU campus during an event on February 9, 2016. Besides Kumar, then JNU students Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya and others were also chargesheeted for allegedly shouting “anti-India slogans” during the event.

However, very little evidence supporting the police’s claims have come to light. Quite a few videos which were circulating in social media and even on some channels were found to be doctored.