Delhi Court directs police to give sedition charge sheet to Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid

Sushree Mohanty

A Local Court in Delhi has issued directions to the police to give Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and eight others with duplicates of the charge sheet documented against them in the 2016 sedition case.

Kanhaiya Kumar, Khalid and the other eight accused were former students at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi.

The group was detained on charges of sedition along with several other charges for purportedly raising anti-India slogans during an occasion at the JNU grounds.

The Delhi Police’s special cell recorded a 1,200-page charge sheet before the court on January 14, 2019, naming Kumar, Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya and others for the matter. Kumar and Khalid have affirmed that the police activity against them was a politically influenced move.

During the proceeding, Kumar and Sushil Bajaj (another accused in the matter) requested for exception from physical appearance in the court.

Declining the plea, the court stated that it would consider the request on each hearing and not decide on a prior date.

The court listed the matter for further hearing on April, 2021.

Khalid, who is currently detained in judicial custody in Tihar Jail  was permitted to meet is family for sometime before the proceeding. He was detained for his supposed role in the north east Delhi riots that took place on February 2020.

The other perpetrators in the matter, who are out of jail, arrived at the Patiala House court amidst high security.

Chief metropolitan officer Pankaj Sharma, while taking cognisance for the matter had send summon orders to the accused on February 15 while taking insight of the police charge sheet.

He had likewise noticed that the Delhi government has granted permission to indict the accused on charges of sedition.

The other seven accused in the matter include Aquib Hussain, Mujeeb Hussain, Muneeb Hussain, Umar Gul, Rayeea Rassol, Bashir Bhat and Basharat.

The accused in the case, namely Kumar, Khalid and others are facing charges pertaining to Sections 124A (sedition), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) of Indian Penal Code.

Additionally, they have been booked under sections 471, 149, 147 and 120B of the Code.

Following a complaint documented by the former Bharatiya Janata Party leader Maheish Girri and the student wing of the RSS, a case was documented against the individuals on February 11, 2016.

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