'I Don’t Know if Kanhaiya Committed Sedition, Modiji on The Other Hand…': Kejriwal's Unsparing Attack

New Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said the Delhi government’s law department was examining granting sanction for prosecution of former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar in a sedition case. 

He, however, accused the Centre of committing “sedition” by creating hurdles in the works of Delhi government. “I do not know whether Kanhaiya has committed sedition or not, which is being examined by the law department.

“On the other hand, Modi ji has stalled (works on) schools for children, hospitals, installation of CCTV cameras, setting up of mohalla clinics in Delhi – is this not sedition?” Kejriwal said in a tweet in Hindi. The AAP-led Delhi government is seeking legal advice with regard to granting sanction for prosecution in the JNU sedition case.

Last week, the ruling AAP and the Delhi Police had traded allegations after a court questioned the filing of a charge sheet in the sedition case against former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar and nine others without procuring required sanction from authorities. The Delhi government sources said the rules laid down by the court for sanction of prosecution will be followed.

The police had filed the charge sheet in the court on January 14, saying the sanction for prosecution was pending with the government. “Why did you file (the charge sheet) without approval? You do not have a legal department,” the court asked police on Saturday.

According to the charge sheet, Kumar was leading a procession and supported seditious slogans raised on the JNU campus during an event on February 9, 2016.

Former JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya were also charged with allegedly shouting anti-India slogans during the event to mark the hanging of Parliament attack mastermind Afzal Guru.

The event had taken place despite the university administration cancelling the permission for the same following a complaint by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, which had termed it “anti-national”.