Kanhaiya, 9 others to be charged with sedition

NEW DELHI: The city police is all set to file a chargesheet against 10 people, including, former JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar, Syed Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, in a sedition case.

The police report cites forensic evidence of video footage to confirm that slogans like "Bharat tere tukde honge, inshallah inshallah" were raised at the university, where over 50 people had gathered nearly three years ago to protest against the capital punishment awarded by the Supreme Court to Parliament attack conspirator Afzal Guru.


The special cell has also named 36 others as accused in column number 12 of the chargesheet. This means that they are accused of being involved in the crime but police could not gather evidence against them.

There are around 10 eyewitnesses listed by the police and a few of them have recorded their statements under 164 CrPC before a magistrate too, said a source.

The final report will be filed under section 124-A (sedition) apart from unlawful assembly and rioting, which are covered under sections 147 and 149 of the IPC.

The accused were also identified through Facebook data analysis and electronic surveillance, which corroborated their location on February 9, 2016 to be JNU. Some JNU staffers and security men have also been listed as witnesses in the case. The police are banking heavily on those who have given their statement under 164 CrPc. This means they cannot retract from their version and any discrepancy can lead to prosecution for perjury.