A Delhi court Saturday rapped the Delhi Police and refused to take cognizance of the sedition case filed against former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar and others, citing the absence of approval from the competent authority to file the chargesheet in such a serious case. Advertising Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Deepak Sherawat asked the Delhi Police officers and its counsel if they were not aware that “sanction, as stipulated under the relevant provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, needs to be filed before the court, for taking cognizance of the offence punishable under section 124 (a) (sedition) of IPC”. It said: “In a chargesheet with such serious allegations, the prosecution has not bothered to file the requisite sanction and as such, the chargesheet at this stage in not complete.” “Why have you not taken the approval of the competent authority or the government? Don’t you have a legal cell to advise in such cases? Unless you (police) have sanction, this court will not take congnizance of the chargesheet,” the judge remarked. The Delhi Police Special Cell, which comes under the jurisdiction and control of the Central government, submitted that “necessary steps for obtaining sanction have been taken and the same is likely to be filed within two weeks”. “Put up for filing sanction and further consideration on February 6,” the judge said, while granting time to the police. The chargesheet in question was filed by the police on Monday, in the case pertaining to the raising of alleged anti-national slogans on the JNU campus on February 9, 2016. It is alleged that the slogans were raised during an event to mark the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. Delhi Police claim to have based its findings on documentary evidence, CCTV footage and eyewitness accounts of about 90 people. Apart from Kumar, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, there are seven other accused – Aquib Hussain, Mujeeb Hussain, Muneeb Hussain, Umar Gul, Rayeea Rasool, Bashir Bhat and Basharat – all from Kashmir. Delhi Police has mentioned 36 others in the chargesheet as well, but without naming them as accused due to lack of evidence. Advertising Kanhaiya had been granted interim bail by the Delhi High Court in the matter in March 2016, almost three weeks after being arrested on charges of sedition. Soon after, a trial court granted interim bail to Khalid and Bhattacharya as well.

Stay updated with all the Delhi Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.