JNU sedition case: Delhi Police files charge sheet against Kanhaiya Kumar, others

The Delhi Police on Monday filed a chargesheet at a city court against former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar and others, saying he was leading a procession and supported seditious slogans raised on the varsity campus in February 2016.

Police also charged former JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya for allegedly shouting anti-India slogans during an event on the university's campus on February 9, 2016, to commemorate the hanging of Parliament-attack mastermind Afzal Guru.

In its charge sheet, police claimed that it has video clips to prove the offence which has been corroborated by the statements of the witnesses.

The other accused chargesheeted in the case are Kashmiri students Aquib Hussain, Mujeeb Hussain, Muneeb Hussain, Umar Gul, Rayeea Rassol, Bashir Bhat and Basharat, some of them were then studying in JNU, Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia.

As many as 36 others, including Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D Raja's daughter Aprajita, Shehla Rashid (then vice-JNUSU president), Rama Naga, Ashutosh Kumar and Banojyotsna Lahiri, all former students of JNU, have been named in column 12 of the charge sheet due to insufficient evidence against them, police sources said.

Police has alleged that Kumar had incited the mob to shout anti-India slogans.

Metropolitan Magistrate Sumit Anand put up the charge sheet for consideration before a competent court on Tuesday.

The accused have been charged with offences under sections 124A (sedition), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 465 (punishment for forgery), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record), 143 (punishment for being a member of an unlawful assembly), 149 (being a member of an unlawful assembly), 147 (punishment for rioting) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

In the charge sheet running into around 1,200 pages, police claimed that all the footage were genuine and the presence of students belonging to Kashmir was also establish through mobile clips and videos.

It claimed that the Kashmiri students, had masks on during the procession, but did not cover their faces while returning. This showed their involvement, police said.

The 10 accused persons have been chargesheeted on the basis of electronic evidence, including CCTV footage and mobile footage, and documentary evidence, which include statements of students and security guards.

The final report claims that no permission was granted to organise the event and every member was a part of an unlawful assembly.

When informed about the lack of permission to hold the even, the accused persons started arguing and fighting, it said.

A case was registered on February 11, 2016 under sections 124A and 120B of the IPC against unidentified persons at the Vasant Kunj (North) police station, following complaints from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Maheish Girri and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

The event in 2016 had taken place despite the university administration cancelling the permission, following a complaint from the ABVP, which had termed it as "anti-national".