JNU sedition case: Delhi court grants police two months to get sanction to prosecute Kanhaiya Kumar, others

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Tuesday granted two months to the Delhi police to secure the requisite sanctions to prosecute former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar and others in a 2016 sedition case. [caption id=“attachment_3914675” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Kanhaiya Kumar. PTI[/caption] Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Manish Khurana passed the order after the police sought more time on the ground that no sanction has been received from the authorities concerned. The court also sought a status report from the deputy commissioner of police on the issue of sanction and posted the matter for further proceedings on 18 September. During a brief hearing, the police told the court that it has not received any information from the Delhi government’s home department regarding the sanction. On 14 January, police had filed a charge sheet in the court against Kumar and others, including former JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, saying they were leading a procession and supported seditious slogans raised in the JNU campus during an event on 9 February, 2016. The court had earlier also directed the police to ask the authorities concerned to expedite the process while granting it three weeks to secure the sanction needed to prosecute Kumar and other accused in the case.