Too much time wasted, decide on sanction or otherwise in JNU sedition case in a month: Delhi court to Kejriwal government

The Patiala House Court on Wednesday told the Delhi government that too much time has already been wasted in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) sedition case in a month, adding that the Arvind Kejriwal government should decide on the sanction or otherwise within one month.

The court in its order said, "It is expected of the Delhi government that the decision regarding the sanction or otherwise would be taken within one month so that further proceeding in the present case may be done. The time which is being taken to finalise the issue of sanction or otherwise has caused wasted of judicial time as the case had been listed and adjourned repeatedly since the filing of the charge sheet."

The next date of hearing has been set for October 25.

The Delhi government has not yet given sanction to prosecute former-JNU Students` Union president Kanhaiya Kumar and others. The Delhi police and public prosecutor told the court that the sanction of chargesheet is still pending with the Home Department, according to news agency ANI. Public prosecutor Vikas Singh has also filed a reply letter in the court. A letter from the Deputy Secretary of the Home Department, states that the matter is still under consideration and decision has not been taken till now.

The reply copy also states that the concerned file is pending before Health Minister Satyendra Kumar Jain who is also handling the Home department. 

Under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), the court cannot take cognizance of the police chargesheet without sanction from the home department of the concerned state. In the charge sheet filed in a court in January, Delhi Police said there were video footages wherein Kumar is "seen leading the students who were raising anti-national slogans" and 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 charge sheet.

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".