Almost three years after an FIR was lodged in the case of anti-national slogans that were raised during an event in the JNU campus, the Delhi Police’s Special Cell has finalised the draft chargesheet in this case. It has reportedly named Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya as the main accused. Kanhaiya Kumar who later became a hero of the leftist liberal cabal was the JNU students’ union president at the time. The police have included eight others in the draft chargesheet. It has been sent to the public prosecutor for vetting and is expected to be filed in the Patiala House Court soon.
According to the Indian Express, a senior police officer said,“Police have found concrete evidence against the eight others, all hailing from Kashmir… two of them are students at JNU, two at Jamia Millia Islamia, one at Aligarh Muslim University, one is a Muradnagar-based doctor and two are students.” According to police sources, the Kashmiri students have been identified after questioning Khalid and recording the statements of other students. An officer linked to the case said, “Police collected evidence after scanning the social media profiles of some of the students. One of them had posted a slogan raised at the event on Facebook. Most of these students were asked to mobilise people for the event.”
According to police sources, the draft chargesheet also mentions the name of 32 others, including the former JNU students’ union vice-president, Shehla Rashid. But the sources also added that “sufficient evidence has not been found” against them. The chargesheet has been delayed since forensic reports on the data from laptops and mobile phones were received only recently. According to the officer, “in one of the reports, the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, CBI, found that raw video footage of the event was authentic.” This seems like a major breakthrough which can help in establishing the case against the accused.
According to the police, the main chargesheet runs for more than a hundred pages. It will include forensic reports, statements and technical evidence as annexures. This chargesheet has been filed on a case which had been initially registered at Vasant Kunj (north) police station on February 11, 2016, under Section 124-A of the IPC, i.e. sedition. Later on, the case was made transferred to the Delhi Police’ Special Cell. In the course of investigation two other provisions, Sections 147 and 149 of the IPC, i.e. punishment for rioting and unlawful assembly were added.
The JNU sedition case had rocked the nation when on February 9, 2016 when an event was held in the JNU campus to protest the hanging of terrorist Afzal Guru. Thereafter, anti-national slogans were raised at the event. Some of the slogans that were chanted are mentioned hereunder:
भारत की बर्बादी तक
जंग़ रहेगी जंग रहेगी
The struggle will continue till the annihilation of India
कश्मीर की आज़ादी तक
जंग रहेगी जंग रहेगी
The battle will be on till Kashmir is seceded from India
कितने अफज़ल मारोगे
घर घर से अफज़ल निकलेंगे
How many Afzals will you slay, there will be an Afzal from every home.
पाकिस्तान जिंदाबाद
Glory to Pakistan.
Such slogans came under heavy criticism. However, the liberal brigade and the newly formed ‘tukde tukde’ gang then asserted that shouting anti-national slogans is a part of the freedom of speech guaranteed under the Constitution of India. Radical leftist elements made all attempts to trivialize this seditious act. Now, it seems that finally this case is going to move ahead towards a reasonable conclusion.