After the Delhi government gave a go-ahead to the city police to prosecute former JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar and nine others in connection with a 2016 sedition case, Kumar thanked them and called for a speedy trial in a fast-track court.
"Thank you, Delhi government for granting permission for a trial in the sedition case. It's a request to the Delhi police and lawyers to take up this matter seriously. There should be a speedy trial in a fast-track court. Unlike 'Aapki Adaalat' on TV, there should be proper trial and justice in the case. Satyamev Jayate," Kumar tweeted.
Speaking to the media after the nod was given, Kumar said that the charge sheet was filed for the first time when he was about to contest the election and pointed out that now, too, it has happened when elections are going to be held in Bihar.
“It is clear that this matter was created and delayed for political benefit. I want a speedy trial in a fast-track court so that the entire country gets to know how a law like sedition is being misused,” Kumar told ANI.
On 14 January last year, the Delhi police had filed a charge sheet against Kumar and others, including former JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya.
The police had said the accused led a procession and had supported the seditious slogans allegedly raised at an event on Parliament-attack accused Afzal Guru at the JNU campus.
Will Fight Sedition Case Against Kanhaiya Kumar Politically, Legally: CPI
The CPI on Saturday said it will fight both "legally and politically" the sedition case against Kumar and alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the national capital had "succumbed to political pressure".
The party feels that it is unfortunate that the Arvind Kejriwal government has “succumbed to political pressure and granted permission to prosecute Kumar”, it said.
"The national secretariat of the Communist Party of India (CPI) will fight legally and politically the sedition charges... The party is confident that Kanhaiya Kumar will come out unscathed as the charges are false and politically motivated," the CPI said in a statement, PTI reported.
"It may be recalled here that the chief minister (Kejriwal) himself had in the beginning said that there is no case of sedition against Kanhaiya and videos were doctored. We are yet to ascertain why this sudden change of heart has happened," the statement said.
The party said that it will soon secure a copy of the Delhi government's standing counsel's recommendations which had not given sanction for the prosecution.
‘Sab Doodh Ka Doodh Aur Paani Ka Paani Hoga!’
Meanwhile, Khalid and Anirban in a statement, said the "government granting sanction to a sedition case against us doesn't trouble us at all."
"We are confident of our innocence, have full faith in the judiciary and have ourselves been demanding the case against us to be tried in the courts," the statement read.
“The ensuing trial will vindicate us and prove that the media trial at the behest of the ruling regime was false, malicious and politically motivated. We have lived under the shadow of these false charges for far too long. Finally, sab doodh ka doodh aur paani ka paani hoga!" it added.
Public Pressure Forced Kejriwal to Grant Prosecution Sanction: BJP
Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari welcomed the development, but said the Kejriwal government perhaps gave the approval in view of the “current political situation”.
The BJP has been alleging the AAP government of stonewalling the proceedings in the case by not granting its approval to prosecute Kanhaiya and others.
Party leader Prakash Javadekar said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal delayed it for three years but was forced to bend in front of the people.
"Under public pressure, finally the Delhi government was forced to give permission in the JNU case. For three years, Arvind Kejriwal kept postponing it but he was forced to bend in front of people," he said in a tweet.
Javadekar, in his tweets, also referred to the controversial slogans, including the alleged call to break up India and said that justice will prevail now.
The BJP leader said those slogans were "anti-national".
AAP Denies Charge, Says Has Not Stopped Prosecution
However, the ruling AAP denied the BJP charge on blocking the proceedings in the matter.
AAP MLA and spokesperson Raghav Chadha said the Law Department of the Delhi government has given its opinion on this matter to the Home Department after due diligence, according to PTI.
The sanction was granted by the Delhi government on 20 February, he said.
Chadha said in a statement on Friday, "The Delhi government, as a matter of policy and as a matter of principle, does not and has not intervened in any of such cases. Our government has not stopped prosecution in any case, whatsoever, in the last five years."
Calling it a "purely a procedural matter", he said judiciary and judiciary alone should decide on the merits of each case.
“It is not for governments to decide on the merits of such cases,” he added.
"Our MLAs fought these in the courts, in most cases our MLAs were declared innocent while some cases are still pending in court. Even when it came to elected representatives of the ruling party, that is the Aam Aadmi Party, the government of Delhi did not intervene in the process of law," the statement said, according to PTI.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on 19 February had said he would ask the department concerned to take an "expeditious decision" on the granting sanction to prosecute Kanhaiya and others in the sedition case.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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