‘Give copy of charge sheet to Kanhaiya, others’: Court tells cops

Chief metropolitan magistrate (CMM) Pankaj Sharma posted the matter for April 7 for scrutiny of documents in the case and also granted regular bail to seven accused who were not arrested in the case earlier.

A Delhi court on Monday directed the city police to supply the copy of the charge sheet to former JNU students Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya and seven others in a case, where they have been booked for sedition for allegedly raising anti India slogans during an event at the varsity campus on February 9, 2016.

JNU students Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid lead a protest march in this file photo from 2016. (Arun Sharma/HT Archive)

Chief metropolitan magistrate (CMM) Pankaj Sharma posted the matter for April 7 for scrutiny of documents in the case and also granted regular bail to seven accused who were not arrested in the case earlier.

The seven accused — Aquib Hussain, Mujeeb Hussain, Muneeb Hussain, Umar Gul, Rayeea Rassol, Bashir Bhat and Basharat — who were not arrested before filing of charge sheet were granted bail on Monday. These seven, through their counsels, had moved bail applications following which the court granted them bail on a personal bond of ₹25,000 and a surety of a like amount.

Kumar, Bhattacharya and Umar Khalid, who is currently in judicial custody in connection to the Delhi riots of February 2020, and seven others appeared in the court after they were summoned as accused on February 14.

The Delhi police’s special cell, on January 14, 2019, filed a 1,200-page chargesheet before the city court naming Kumar, Khalid, Bhattacharya and seven others for raising “anti-India” slogans on campus during an event on February 9, 2016.

The accused have all denied the allegations and criticised Delhi Police for filing a sedition case against them. Kumar and Khalid said the police action was “politically motivated”