Delhi govt's approval for Kanhaiya Kumar's prosecution is a political move: Tariq Anwar

Congress leader Tariq Anwar on Saturday said that the Delhi government's sanction to the Delhi police to prosecute former JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar and two others for sedition is "nothing but a political move" by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Anwar said that if the Kejriwal-led Delhi government granted sanction under some pressure will become clear in the coming times

"Nobody knows who pressurised Kejriwal-led Delhi government to grant sanctions for the prosecution (of Kanhaiya Kumar for sedition). It will be clear soon in the coming times," he added.

"Everybody knows that this is a political move and Kanhaiya Kumar also agreed on it. It should be decided soon in court so that citizens will know how sedition case is misused for their political gains."

The Delhi government on Friday gave the go-ahead to the city police to prosecute Kanhaiya Kumar and two others involved in the JNU sedition case.

In the chargesheet filed in the court in January this year, the Delhi Police had said that Kanhaiya Kumar and others, including Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, led a procession and raised anti-India slogans at an event in the university campus on February 9, 2016.

It said that there were video footages wherein Kanhaiya Kumar is "seen" leading the students who were raising "anti-national slogans" and that he had been identified by the witnesses in the videos.