Using sedition law to mute dissent
Nearly three years after former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student leader Kanhaiya Kumar and nine others were accused of raising antiIndia slogans, the Delhi police on Monday charged them with sedition.
Kumar described the chargesheet as “politically motivated” and questioned its timing, just months ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Pointing out that the charge sheet has been filed after three years of the incident, Kumar said that the Modi government, just as all its other promises, is “not serious” and using the issue as a political tool. The maximum punishment for sedition is life term.
A court questioned the Delhi police for filing a chargesheet against Kanhaiya Kumar and others in the 2016 JNU sedition case without procuring the requisite sanctions.
The police told Metropolitan Magistrate Deepak Sherawat they will procure the required sanctions within 10 days. “Why did you file (the charge sheet) without approval? You don't have
The Modi government, just as all its other promises, is “not serious” and using the issue now as a political tool.
— KANHAIYA KUMAR
Ex-JNU student leader
a legal department,” the court said. The court is likely to resume hearing on the matter soon.
Police on January 14 had filed the chargesheet at a city court against Kumar and others, saying he was leading a procession and supported seditious slogans raised on the varsity campus during an event in February 2016.
Police also charged former JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya for allegedly shouting anti-India slogans during the event held on February 9, 2016, to mark the hanging of Parliament-attack mastermind Afzal Guru.
Earlier, they had claimed before the court here that Kumar had raised anti-India slogans in 2016 “to incite hatred and disaffection towards the government”. Police cited statements of various witnesses in its chargesheet to state that Kumar was walking along with the protesters where a number of unidentified persons were raising slogans during the event.