Delhi CM refutes 'speculations' of govt rejecting request to prosecute Kanhaiya Kumar, others

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday refuted media reports which claimed that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has rejected a request for sanction by Delhi Police to prosecute Kanhaiya Kumar and others in the JNU sedition case.

"I have been told that no decision has been taken so far in the case. News that's being spread is just a speculation," he said at a press conference here.

His clarification comes after media reports emerged claiming that Delhi government has rejected the request to prosecute Kanhaiya Kumar and others who were accused of sedition.

On July 23 this year, Delhi Police was granted time till September 18 to obtain the requisite sanction in the JNU sedition case.

On April 5, the Delhi Government had submitted a reply before the Special CBI court stating that the Delhi Police had filed the charge sheet in the case in a "secretive" and "hasty" manner, without obtaining approval of the appropriate authority.

On April 3, the AAP government had informed the court that it would take a month to decide whether to grant sanction to prosecute Kumar and others.

The police in its charge sheet filed in January this year had contended that there were videos wherein Kumar could be seen on February 9, 2016 "leading the students who were raising anti-national slogans" in the JNU campus and that he had been identified by witnesses.

The police have charged Kumar, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya with raising 'anti-national slogans' during an event, which was organised to mark the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.