Delhi HC rejects petition seeking sedition case against Kanhaiya Kumar for 'rape' remark on Indian Army

New Delhi: A petition was filed in the Delhi High Court on Tuesday seeking action against JNU Students` Union president Kanhaiya Kumar under sections of the Indian Penal Code dealing with sedition for saying that the Indian Army is responsible for rapes of women in Kashmir.

According to ANI, a bench led by justice Pratibha Rani, which heard the petition post-lunch, dismissed it

Justice Pratibha Rani declined to give the direction sought by a social activist on the ground that there is law and order in place which will take care of if any anti-national slogans are being raised and the petitioner need not worry about the image of the nation.

It also questioned the locus of the petitioner for filing the present petition seeking direction to take necessary action for the offence of sedition allegedly committed by Kanhaiya and to refer the matter for further investigation by Intelligence Bureau in the interest of justice.

The court also sought presence of petitioner Dev Dutt Sharma so that he is aware of the cost which may be imposed on him for filing this writ petition.

The petition said, "Indian Army is an integral part of the nation and it cannot be alleged that the army is causing rape with women in Kashmir, which is a serious matter and a clear seditious act on the part of Kanhaiya Kumar.''

"India is a free country but Kanhaiya Kumar and his associates called for a revolution and it was indicated that Kanhaiya is being backed by some Naxalites or Naxal group," said the plea.

Kanhaiya Kumar has sought "azadi" (freedom) for Kashmir, Nagaland and Assam where a duly elected government is in power, said the plea, adding that he and his associates, Anirban Bhattacharya and Umar Khalid, in their speeches have said that their fight for "azadi" would continue.

The plea sought the court`s direction for investigation by the Intelligence Bureau into the issue.

Despite giving an undertaking to the court that he would not involve himself in any anti-national activities, Kanhaiya Kumar`s 45-minute speech after release from jail was probably a total political speech inviting penal provisions for a seditious act.

On March 2, the Delhi High Court granted an interim bail to Kanhaiya Kumar, the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students` Union president who was booked on the charge that he engaged in anti-national sloganeering in a public meeting in February in the university campus.

While granting him bail for six months, Justice Pratibha Rani said he will "not participate actively or passively in any activity which may be termed as anti-national".

After his release from bail, on March 8, Kanhaiya Kumar reportedly said in a speech, "No matter how much you try to stop us, we will speak up against human rights violations. We will raise our voice against Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act . While we have a lot of respect for our soldiers, we will still talk about the fact that in Kashmir, women are raped by security personnel."

With Agency inputs