‘Doctored’ footage crucial evidence in Delhi Police report against JNU student ​Kanhaiya Kumar

NEW DELHI: A Delhi Police report on the JNU development has cited four major grounds against Kanhaiya Kumar, the arrested students’ union president who is facing sedition charges. The most crucial evidence against him is a footage obtained from a private news channel that some claim is doctored.

The latest report, submitted to Delhi Police Commissioner Bhim Sain Bassi, mentions shouting of 29 anti-India slogans at an event on February 9.

But the list doesn’t include the slogan “Pakistan Zindabad”, which an FIR registered on February 11 based on the video footage said was shouted at the meeting.

Among the other proofs the cops claimed include the statements by eyewitnesses who said Kumar was “present at Sabarmati (hostel) and Ganga Dhaba where this programme was organised and where a group of students were indulging in anti-national activities”. To support some of the claims, the police relied on the report of an internal JNU committee that probed the event. The committee found eight students, including Kumar, “misrepresented the facts about the proposed event as a cultural evening, although the objective was to hold a political meeting”.

The report, which said the student leader “shouted unconstitutional slogans”, acknowledged that the investigation was at an initial stage and the police were collecting further evidences against Kumar. While the police have come under criticism over the way it handled the situation, the report stressed that they followed the rule book. It said the police “did not enter into the JNU complex without requisition from the concerned authorities”.

Narrating the sequence of events, the south district police said they were informed about the cancellation of the permission to the students to hold the event inside the campus on February 9. “On receipt of information, a component of local police under the supervision of SHO Vasant Kunj (North) reached the gate of JNU campus and remained in touch with security officers of the JNU,” the report said.

While defending its move, the Delhi Police said there was a group of 200-300 Left-affiliated students and 50-60 ABVP supporters. The police positioned themselves between the groups and were assisted by the security staff of the JNU, “who had made a human chain separating both the groups”, the report said.