Summon issued to 9 including Umar Khalid & Kanhaiya Kumar in Sedition case

New Delhi: A Delhi court has issued summons to former JNU Students' Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, eight others in connection with the 2016 Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) sedition case.

The court has taken cognisance of the charge sheet filed by Delhi Police, a year after the Delhi Government granted sanction to prosecute persons charged with sedition for raising anti-national slogans during the 2016 protest march.

The Court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate has summoned all 10 accused in the case, including Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya and Kanhaiya Kumar, and directed them to appear in person on March 15.

Other persons named in the charge sheet are Aquib Hussain, Mujeeb Hussain Gattoo, Muneeb Hussain Gattoo, Umar Gul, Rayees Rasool, Basharat Ali and Khalis Bashir Bhatt.

Delhi Police in its charge sheet had claimed that Kanhaiya Kumar led a procession and raised seditious slogans on the JNU campus on February 9, 2016, during an event to mark the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

However, the chargesheet was rejected by the Magistrate on January 19, 2019, citing lack of requisite sanctions.As per Section 196 of CrPC, prosecution for the offence of sedition under Section 124A in Chapter VI of IPC cannot be carried forward without the sanction of the state government.(UNI)