#JNURow: Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, Sitaram Yechury among nine booked for sedition

Hyderabad: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury are among nine persons who have been booked on sedition charges in connection with the JNU row, police said on Sunday. An FIR has been registered against Rahul, Kejriwal, Yechury, Congress leaders Anand Sharma and Ajay Maken, CPI leader D Raja, JD(U) Spokesperson KC Tyagi, JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar and JNU research scholar Umar Khalid on the order of a court in New Delhi, based on a complaint filed by lawyer Janardhan Goud. [caption id=“attachment_2641070” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File Photo of Rahul Gandhi. PTI[/caption] “It is a court-referred matter. Following the court’s directive, a case under section 124A of the IPC (sedition) has been registered yesterday against nine persons, including Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, Sitaram Yechury, JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar and others,” Saroornagar Police Station Inspector S Lingaiah said on Sunday. The court has posted the matter for hearing on 4 March. In his petition, Goud said Rahul and other leaders, despite being aware that Delhi Police had registered a case against Kanhaiya on charge of sedition had visited JNU campus and knowingly supported them and hence it “amounted to sedition”. Kanhaiya and Khalid, who have earlier been arrested in Delhi on sedition charge, have also been booked here on the same charge. Goud had filed a complaint in the court of Metropolitan Magistrate in New Delhi on Thursday, seeking its direction to police for registration of a case against Kanhaiya and Khalid for allegedly raising anti-India and pro-Afzal Guru slogans on JNU campus and others. In his petition, Goud said he has every right to question those who are indulging in “anti-national activities and also those who are encouraging anti-nationals in the name of solidarity for those who are facing criminal charges under section 124(A) of IPC. Reacting to the FIR, Kejriwal took to twitter:

मुझ पर देशद्रोह का मुक़द्दमा किया है। मैं दलितों, ग़रीबों और पिछड़ों के लिए आवाज़ उठाता रहा हूँ, इसलिए इनकी नज़रों में देशद्रोही हूँ(1/5)

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 29, 2016

(Sedition charges have been pressed on me. I raise my voice for Dalits, the poor and the backwards, that’s why I am anti-national for them.)

मैं दलितों, ग़रीबों और पिछड़ों के लिए संघर्ष करता रहूँगा। मेरी आवाज़ बंद नहीं कर सकते(2/5)

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 29, 2016

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(I struggle for the Dalits, the poor and the backwards. Cannot silence my voice.)

मोदी जी से बड़ा देशभक्त हूँ।मैं पूछता हूँ-देश की बर्बादी के नारे लगाने वालों को अभी तक मोदी जी ने गिरफ़्तार क्यों नहीं किया?(3/5)

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 29, 2016

(I am a greater nationalist than Modi ji. I ask, why Modi ji have not arrested who have raised anti-national slogans)

क्योंकि नारे लगाने वाले कश्मीर से हैं और उन्हें गिरफ़्तार करने से कश्मीर में महबूबा मुफ़्ती नाराज़ हो जाएंगी(4/5)

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 29, 2016

(Because those who raised slogans are from Kashmir and arresting them would upset Mehboob Mufti.)

हमारे सैनिक रोज़ बॉर्डर पर शहीद हो रहे है। और मोदी जी कश्मीर में सरकार बनाने के लिए देशद्रोही तत्वों को बचा रहे हैं?(5/5)

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 29, 2016

(Our soldiers are martyred on the border everyday. And Modi ji is protecting anti-national elements to make a government in Kashmir?) PTI