Delhi govt seeks month's time to grant sanction to prosecute Kanhaiya

New Delhi: The Delhi government on Wednesday sought before a court here a month's time to decide whether to grant sanction to prosecute former JNU students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar and others in the 2016 JNU sedition case.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Deepak Sherawat directed the AAP government to file a "proper reply", citing a definite time-frame.

DCP of Special Cell of Delhi Police, Pramod Kushwaha, had earlier told the court that the agency has already sent a request to the Delhi government seeking sanction and added that sanction was an administrative action and the charge sheet can be filed without

that.

The Delhi Police had earlier told the court that authorities were yet to give requisite sanctions to prosecute Kumar and others in the case, and it would take two to three months to procure sanctions. The court had earlier also directed police to ask the authorities concerned to expedite the process while granting it three weeks to procure the sanction needed to prosecute Kumar and other accused, including former JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, in the case.

They have been charged under IPC 124 A (sedition), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 465 (forgery), 471 (using as genuine, forged document), 143 (punishment for unlawful assembly), 149 (unlawful assembly with common object), 147 (rioting) and 120B. The three students, who were arrested on February 11, 2016, are out on bail.