Kanhaiya says prosecution order has come now because he was to contest 2020 Bihar polls

After Delhi govt gives its nod to prosecute him in 2016 sedition case, Kanhaiya says the law is being misused and he wants a speedy trial in fast-track court.

File image of Kanhaiya Kumar | Commons

Ranchi: Hours after the Aam Aadmi Party led Delhi government gave its nod to prosecute him in connection with a four-year-old sedition case, former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar on Friday said he wants a speedy trial in a fast-track court so that the entire country gets to know “how a law like sedition is being misused”.

He alleged that the chargesheet was filed deliberately against him at a time when he was about to contest election in Bihar. “The chargesheet was filed for the first time when I was about to contest the election and now elections are going to be held in Bihar again. There is National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in Bihar and the state government has passed a resolution in the Assembly against National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR),” said Kumar at a press conference here.

“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,” he said.

Kumar’s statement comes after the Delhi government on Friday gave the go-ahead to the city police to prosecute him and two others involved in the case.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Delhi Police wrote a letter to Delhi Home Secretary requesting him to expeditiously give clearance to prosecute Kumar in the case.

In the letter, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Special Cell, Pramod Kushwah said, “It is requested to expedite the process to accord prosecution sanction under Section 196 CrPC as required for the offence under Chapter VI of the IPC, that is, Section 124A IPC.”

In the chargesheet filed in the court in January this year, the Delhi Police had said that Kanhaiya Kumar and others, including Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, led a procession and raised anti-national slogans at an event in the university campus on February 9, 2016.

It said that there were video footages wherein Kanhaiya Kumar is “seen” leading the students who were raising “anti-national slogans” and that he had been identified by the witnesses in the videos.