New Delhi: The Delhi Government has given the go-ahead to the city police to prosecute former JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar and two others in connection with a 2016 sedition case, sources said on Friday.
On January 14, the police had filed a charge sheet against Kumar and others, including former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya.
Police had asked for process to be 'expedited'
Earlier on February 26, the Delhi Police Special Cell had written to the Delhi Home Secretary requesting him to "expedite" the process of grant of sanction in the JNU sedition case.
Read: Sedition charges being distributed freely like 'prasad': Kanhaiya
On the same day, a Delhi court had asked the Delhi government to file a status report relating to the issue of pendency of sanction in the case to prosecute Kanhaiya Kumar and others.
The court had kept the matter for hearing on April 3.
The 'sedition' case
On February 9, 2016, "anti-national" slogans were allegedly raised on the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus during a programme called to protest against the death sentence handed out to Afzal Guru, a convict in the 2002 Parliament attack.
Read: Govt misusing institutions for political vendetta: Kanhaiya
The 1,200-page charge sheet filed by the police's Crime Branch had named 10 JNU students, including Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya and seven Kashmiri students, as the main accused in the case.
The charge sheet says the Regional Forensic Science Laboratory (RFSL) retrieved the "SMS sent by Umar Khalid to Kanhaiya Kumar to arrive at Sabarmati Dhaba, JNU, as their permission (to hold the protest) had been cancelled by the university administration".
The final pages of the charge sheet also confirm the presence of Kashmiri students during the protest and that they were in contact with Umar Khalid.
(With inputs from PTI and IANS)
