JNU sedition case: Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and 8 others to face trial, summoned on March 15

A Delhi Court has taken cognizance of a charge sheet filed by the Delhi Police in 2016 Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) sedition case, in which Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and eight others are the accused. They have now been summoned on March 15.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pankaj Sharma on Monday took cognisance of the offences -- 124A (sedition), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 465 (forgery), 471 (using forged document), 143 (punishment for unlawful assembly), 149 (member of unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).

"After careful perusal of the charge sheet and consideration of the material, all the accused persons mentioned herein above are summoned to face trial for the offence. Accused persons be summoned for 15.03.2021," the judge stated in the order.

Cognisance has been taken exactly one year after the Delhi government granted sanction to the Delhi Police to prosecute the accused, on February 27, 2020.

Besides Kanhaiya and Umar, others include Anirban Bhattacharya, Kashmiri students Aquib Hussain, Mujeeb Hussain Gattoo, Muneeb Hussain Gattoo, Umar Gul, Rayeea Rassol, Khalid Bashir Bhat and Basharat Ali.

The 1,200-page charge sheet named these accused and states that the Regional Forensic Science Laboratory (RFSL) retrieved the SMS sent by Umar Khalid to Kanhaiya Kumar to arrive at Sabarmati Dhaba, JNU, as their permission (to hold the protest) had been cancelled by the University administration.

The final pages of the charge sheet also confirm the presence of Kashmiri students during the protest and that they were in contact with Umar Khalid.

On February 9, 2016, "anti-national" slogans were allegedly raised at the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus during a programme called to protest against the execution of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru on his death anniversary.