Petition moved in Delhi HC over delay in JNU sedition case sanctions

A petition has been moved in the Delhi High Court in connection with the delay in sanctions in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) sedition case.

The petition will come up for hearing before a bench headed by Delhi High Court Chief Justice Dhirubhai Naranbhai Patel tomorrow.

The petition, moved by former BJP MLA Nand Kishor Garg, stated that Delhi government is not giving the approval to prosecute treason 'within a specified time'.

The public prosecutor had recently informed Patiala House court, where the case is pending, that the matter regarding grant of sanction is still pending to prosecute Kanhaiya Kumar and others in the JNU sedition case.

Court had adjourned the matter after the prosecutor informed that the sanction of chargesheet is still pending and that the Home Department had not given the sanction yet.

The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) court had issued the summons to the investigation officer of the case and slated the matter for hearing on December 11.

In the chargesheet filed in the court in January, Delhi Police had said there was video footage wherein Kumar is "seen leading the students who were raising anti-national slogans" and that he had been identified by the witnesses in the videos.

"The location of mobile phone at the place of occurrence" was also cited as evidence against Kumar in the 1200-page chargesheet.

As part of other evidence, the police said the Forensic Science Laboratory had retrieved an SMS sent by Khalid to Kumar, asking him to "arrive at Sabarmati Dhaba, JNU, as their permission had been cancelled by the JNU administration".