JNU students chargesheeted

Three years after sedition case was filed and just before the elections

The Delhi Police had to manually carry a large trunk inside the Patiala House Court in New Delhi on Monday. The trunk contains a charge sheet -- estimated to be around 1200-page long – in a sedition case slapped on JNU students three years back.

In the dock are ten people, including student leaders Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid; the sedition case dates back to February, 2016, when an event was organised on the JNU campus against the hanging of Parliament attack mastermind Afzal Guru. At the event, anti-national slogans were raised by the students.

Student activist Shehla Rashid and DMK leader D Raja's daughter Aparajita have also been mentioned in column 12 of the charge sheet due to insufficient evidence against them, police sources said.

The charge-sheet contains CCTV footage, mobile footage and documentary evidence. The police has alleged that Kanhaiya Kumar had incited the mob to shout anti-India slogans.

The said the event had taken place on JNU campus despite the university administration withdrawing the permission, following a complaint from the ABVP, which had termed it as "anti-national".

Reacting to the development, Kanhaiya Kumar said the chargesheet was a diversionary ploy by the Modi government to hide its all-round failures.

"I have not received any summons or information from the court. But if it is true, then we are thankful to the police and Modi that finally after 3 years, when it is time is for him and his government to go, the chargesheet has been filed. But what is pertinent is the timing of the chargesheet -- just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

"It is evident that there is a political motive behind this. The motive is that the Modi government has been a failure in all aspects, it has not been able to fulfil even a single promise, so it is playing all its cards to divert the attention," he told the media.

"If the government was really serious about the case and was convinced that we did indulge in anti national activities, then why did it take 3 years to file the chargesheet?" he asked.