The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to direct the Delhi government's approval to prosecute the sedition case of Kanhaiya Kumar, former president of the Jawaharlal Nehru Students Union (JNU SU). Hearing the petition of former BJP MLA Nandkishore Garg, a bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice C Harishankar said that it could not give directions on it. The bench said that the decision has to be taken by the Delhi government based on the existing rules, policy, law and facts as to whether it can grant permission for the trial.
While disposing of the petition, the main bench even said that it appears that the petitioner has a personal interest in the FIR related to the case. Apart from this, the bench said that there is no reason to give directions to prepare guidelines on the existing law. The bench said that many decisions have already been given in this regard. The petitioner, former BJP MLA Nand Kishore Garg, had filed a petition through advocate Shashank Dev Sudhi alleging that the Delhi government was deliberately postponing the case and did not want to punish the accused.
The petitioner also said that the Patiala House Court has given instructions to the Delhi government several times regarding grant of sanction, but still not allowed to prosecute. He also told the court that the Delhi Police has also filed a charge sheet in this case, but the Delhi government is not giving approval for prosecution and what is the reason behind it is not being told.
On 14 January 2019, the Delhi Police had filed a 1200-page charge sheet in the court. In this, Kanhaiya Kumar, former president of JNU Students Union, Umar Khalid, member of Democratic Student Union and Anirban Bhattacharya, a researcher of history, were made the main accused. At the same time, seven other accused are Aqib Hussain, Mujib Hussain, Munib Hussain, Utar Gul, Rais Rasool, Basrat Ali and Khalid Bashir Bhat. Apart from this, 36 students have been hired, including Rama Naga, Ashutosh, Shaila Rashid, Aparajita Raja, D Raja's daughter, Rubaina Saifi, Samar Khan.
