The Delhi government has given a go-ahead to the police to prosecute former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar, former JNU students Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya and seven others in connection with a four-year-old sedition case, as the ruling AAP denied the persistent BJP charge of blocking the proceedings in the matter.
The sanction was granted by the Delhi government on 20 February, AAP MLA and spokesperson Raghav Chadha said.
“The Law Department of the Delhi government has given its opinion on this matter to the Home Department after due diligence,” he added.
Reacting to the development, Umar Khalid tweeted his and Anirban Bhattacharya’s joint statement on Friday.
“The news of the Delhi government granting sanction to sedition case against us doesn’t trouble us at all. We are confident of our innocence, have full faith in the judiciary and have ourselves been demanding the case against us to be tried in the courts.
“The ensuing trial will vindicate us and prove that the media trial at the behest of the ruling regime was false, malicious and politically motivated. We have lived under the shadow of these false charges for far too long. Finally, ‘sab doodh ka doodh aur paani ka paani hoga’ (everything will become clear) !” he said in a series of tweets.
“And as we will defend ourselves in the court, we will expose the lies of the ruling regime and its fake claims of being nationalist,” the statement added.
Kanhaiya also tweeted, “Fast-track court and quick action is required in the sedition case so that the country gets to know how the sedition law was misused in this entire case for political benefits.”
“Thank you to Delhi government for giving permission for the sedition case,” he wrote on the microblogging site while urging the Delhi Police and government officials to take this case seriously and ensure justice
