JNU row: No evidence with Delhi police to charge Kanhaiya Kumar with sedition, says report

Umar Khalid, Kanhaiya Kumar and Anirban Bhattacharya were slapped with sedition charges in after anti-India slogans were allegedly raised in JNU last year.

By: News Desk |
March 1, 2017 12:02 pm

The Delhi Police has reportedly drafted charge sheet in Jawaharlal Nehru University sedition case and have reportedly not charged JNUSU former president Kanhaiya Kumar with sedition because of lack of evidence in connection with the anti-India slogans that were raised in JNU during an event last year creating massive uproar across the national capital.

However, according to Times of India, the police in its draft char sheet has indicted Umar Khali and Anirban Bhattacharya with sedition. The police are also seeking a legal opinion. The police has identified 9 outsiders allegedly from Kashmir in the video on the basis of which Umar Khalid, Kanhaiya Kumar and Anirban Bhattacharya were arrested for raising “anti-national” slogans. The police has drafted the charge sheet on the basis of 40 video clips that were in their possession.

Umar Khalid who shot to limelight in February last year after organising a commemorative event for Afzal Guru, Khalid is facing an allegation of sedition after slogans bashing India were raised at the same event, which took place at the Jawaharlal Nehru University.

10 students were named in the report including Umar Khalid for organising an event to commemorate Afzal Guru’s death. Umar Khalid had also absconded along with Anirban after they were charged with sedition. However, they resurfaced and addressed JNU students before surrendering while pleading innocence.

This comes against the backdrop of the ongoing protests by the students of Delhi University against the violence that took place in Ramjas college after some members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Partishad (ABVP) attacked students. Umar Khalid was invited to speak at an event, Culture of Protest, at Delhi University’s Ramjas College, sparking strong reactions from right-wing student group Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. The event had to subsequently cancelled leading huge uproar. The students are demanding strict action against ABVP and have affirmed that violence shall not be tolerated in the campus and that the students should be allowed to exercise the right to freedom of speech.