Court raps police over failure to procure sanctions in JNU sedition case

New Delhi: The Delhi Police Monday told a court here that authorities were yet to give requisite sanctions to prosecute former JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar and others in a 2016 sedition case.

On January 14, police had filed a charge sheet in the court against Kumar and others, saying he was leading a procession and supported seditious slogans raised on the JNU campus during an event on February 9, 2016. 

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Deepak Sherawat told the police that they could have filed the charge sheet after procuring the sanctions.

“You (police) could have filed after procuring sanction only. What was the hurry? I can’t go ahead with the case,” the judge said.

Police told the court that it would take two to three months to procure the sanctions. 

The court also sought a report from the deputy commissioner of police assigned to the case.

It posted the matter for further hearing on March 29.

The court had earlier also directed the police to ask the authorities concerned to expedite the process while granting it three weeks to procure the sanction needed to prosecute Kumar and other accused, including former JNU students, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, in the case.