Delhi Police questioned over filing of JNU sedition case chargesheet

New Delhi, March 11 (IANS) A Delhi court on Monday questioned the city police on why it filed a chargesheet in the JNU sedition case in haste without getting sanction from the state government to initiate proceedings against the accused former student leaders. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Deepak Sherawat's question came after the public prosecutor informed him that it will take another two to three months for getting prosecution sanction from the competent authority. Sherawat listed the matter for further hearing on March 29 and sought a report from the Delhi Police regarding the case. In the last hearing, the court told the Delhi government not to sit on the police file seeking sanction to proceed in the case. The case involves a February 2016 event organised in Jawaharlal Nehru University against the hanging of Parliament attack mastermind Afzal Guru. The chargesheet was filed on January 14. It named former JNU student leaders Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya and seven Kashmiri students as accused in the case. Both Kumar and Khalid have questioned the filing of the charge-sheet, saying it was "politically motivated" and a "diversionary ploy" by the Modi government ahead of the general elections.
--IANS akk/ksk/bg