Police seek time to conclude probe against Geelani, Arundhati

Delhi Police today sought time from a court for concluding the probe into a complaint seeking prosecution of hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and writer Arundhati Roy on the charges of sedition.

Delhi Police on Tuesday sought time from a court for concluding the probe into a complaint seeking prosecution of hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and writer Arundhati Roy on the charges of sedition.

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"It is submitted that due to the heavy law and order arrangement in the festival of Diwali and the visit of US President Barack Obama ... We could not give proper attention to the matter," police said in the application.

Metropolitan Magistrate Navita Kumari Bagha took the plea into the records and granted a last opportunity to the SHO of Tilak Marg police station here to file the status report in the matter on November 26, the next date of hearing.

Earlier, the court had asked police to file the report on the complaint of Sushil Pandit who alleged that a prima facie case of sedition was made out against the accused as they had openly challenged the integrity and the authority of Government of India.

The complaint, filed under section 156 (3)of CrPC, seeks either registration of an FIR or a direction to the police to file a report after probing their alleged anti-India statements at a seminar.

It was alleged that as the government had miserably failed to initiate any action against the "culprits" of the anti-India seminar, a private complaint against them has been filed.

Besides Geelani and Roy, the complaint also seeks prosecution of five others, including Delhi University professor S A R Geelani, who was acquitted in Parliament attack case, and Sheikh Showkat Hussain, a professor of Jammu and Kashmir University.

Hurriyat leader Geelani had shared the dais with Roy and pro-Maoist leader Vara Vara Rao among others during the convention, 'Azadi-The Only Way.'