<p>Almost a year after police approached for sanction, Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government in Delhi has given its go-ahead to prosecute former JNU Students' Union president Kanhaiya Kumar and two others in connection with a sedition case.</p>.<p>AAP MLA and spokesperson Raghav Chadha said the prosecution sanction was given on February 20 after the Law Department of the Delhi government has given its opinion to the Home Department. </p>.<p>Kanhaiya responded, "thank you Delhi government for giving prosecution sanction. I urge lawyers of police and Delhi government to seriously pursue this. There should be a speedy trial in a court of law and not a media trial."</p>.<p>He also said there was a need for a fast track court in this case as to tell people how the penal section of sedition is misuseD for "political gains and divert people's attention" from livelihood matters. </p>.<p>Delhi Police had filed a chargesheet against Kumar and former JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya January 2019 accusing them of raising 'azadi' slogans during a protest in JNU.</p>.<p>A local court had then asked police to first seek sanction from the Delhi government as per procedure to prosecute Kumar and others in the case in which he was accused of leading a procession and supported seditious slogans raised in on 9 February 2016. However, AAP has not given prosecution sanction till now and had faced questions from rival BJP over the issue.</p>.<p>With the BJP alleging that the AAP government was stonewalling the proceedings in the case, Chadha denied the charge, saying that it was a procedural matter and Delhi government does not sit on judgement on the merit of the case. </p>.<p>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."</p>.<p>Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said public lic pressure forced Kejriwal to grant prosecution sanction in JNU sedition case. </p>.<p>"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.</p>.<p>During the recent Assembly election campaign, BJP President J P Nadda had raised the issue of Kejriwal government not giving prosecution sanction.</p>.<p>Nadda had tweeted, "Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and other anti-India forces raised seditious slogans like 'Bharat tere tukde honge' in Jawaharlal Nehru University. They were threatening to violate India’s sovereignty. Law enforcement agencies moved in, investigated the matter and in January 2019 were ready to file chargesheet."</p>.<p>"They sought Kejriwal’s permission to prosecute this 'tukde-tukde' gang but one year later, till yesterday (Sunday), no permission was granted. Kejriwal must tell Delhi why is he supporting those who want to break India? Is it because acting against these anti-nationals will hurt his vote bank?" he had said. </p>
<p>Almost a year after police approached for sanction, Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government in Delhi has given its go-ahead to prosecute former JNU Students' Union president Kanhaiya Kumar and two others in connection with a sedition case.</p>.<p>AAP MLA and spokesperson Raghav Chadha said the prosecution sanction was given on February 20 after the Law Department of the Delhi government has given its opinion to the Home Department. </p>.<p>Kanhaiya responded, "thank you Delhi government for giving prosecution sanction. I urge lawyers of police and Delhi government to seriously pursue this. There should be a speedy trial in a court of law and not a media trial."</p>.<p>He also said there was a need for a fast track court in this case as to tell people how the penal section of sedition is misuseD for "political gains and divert people's attention" from livelihood matters. </p>.<p>Delhi Police had filed a chargesheet against Kumar and former JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya January 2019 accusing them of raising 'azadi' slogans during a protest in JNU.</p>.<p>A local court had then asked police to first seek sanction from the Delhi government as per procedure to prosecute Kumar and others in the case in which he was accused of leading a procession and supported seditious slogans raised in on 9 February 2016. However, AAP has not given prosecution sanction till now and had faced questions from rival BJP over the issue.</p>.<p>With the BJP alleging that the AAP government was stonewalling the proceedings in the case, Chadha denied the charge, saying that it was a procedural matter and Delhi government does not sit on judgement on the merit of the case. </p>.<p>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."</p>.<p>Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said public lic pressure forced Kejriwal to grant prosecution sanction in JNU sedition case. </p>.<p>"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.</p>.<p>During the recent Assembly election campaign, BJP President J P Nadda had raised the issue of Kejriwal government not giving prosecution sanction.</p>.<p>Nadda had tweeted, "Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and other anti-India forces raised seditious slogans like 'Bharat tere tukde honge' in Jawaharlal Nehru University. They were threatening to violate India’s sovereignty. Law enforcement agencies moved in, investigated the matter and in January 2019 were ready to file chargesheet."</p>.<p>"They sought Kejriwal’s permission to prosecute this 'tukde-tukde' gang but one year later, till yesterday (Sunday), no permission was granted. Kejriwal must tell Delhi why is he supporting those who want to break India? Is it because acting against these anti-nationals will hurt his vote bank?" he had said. </p>
