New Delhi, February 28: The Delhi government on Friday gave a nod to Delhi Police to prosecute former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar in a sedition case.
The Delhi government gave its nod to the special cell of Delhi Police. Several others–Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya, Akib Hussain, Umar Gul and Mujeeb–will also be prosecuted in the 2016 incident of sedition.
A group of JNU students led by Kumar, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya had allegedly raised anti-India slogans during an event held at the varsity campus in the evening of February 9, 2016, to mark the death anniversary of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. It is to be noted that Zee News was the first TV news channel to have aired the controversial video clip showing several JNU students, including Khalid, Kumar and Bhattacharya, shouting anti-India and pro-Pakistan slogans at the varsity campus.
AAP MLA and party spokesperson Raghav Chadha said, “The Law Department of Delhi government has, after conducting due diligence, given its opinion on this matter to the Home department. It is pertinent to mention that the Delhi government, as a matter of policy and as a matter of principle, does not and has not intervened in any of such cases. Our government has not stopped prosecution in any case, whatsoever, in the last five years.”
“This is purely a procedural matter. We believe that judiciary and judiciary alone should decide on the merits of each case. It is not for governments to decide on the merits of such cases,” he added.
“Our government has not stopped prosecution in any case, including those pertaining to our own MLAs and party leaders. Our MLAs fought these in the courts, in most cases our MLAs were declared innocent while some cases are still pending in court. Even when it came to elected representatives of the ruling party, that is the Aam Aadmi Party, the government of Delhi did not intervene in the process of law. It is only fair for the permanent executive as well as political executive to not intervene in the process of law and let the Judiciary perform it’s independent function,” he said.
The controversial video showed a gathering of JNU students raising ‘anti-national’ slogans such as ‘Kitne Afzal maaroge, ghar ghar se Afzal niklenge’, ‘Pakistan Zindabad’, ‘India Tere Tukde Tukde Honge’, ‘India Go Back’ etc.
