JNU row: Police filed sedition charge against Kanhaiya based on TV clip

New Delhi: Amid mounting outrage over JNU row, it has emerged now that JNUSU leader Kanhaiya Kumar was slapped with sedition charge based on a video clip of the controversial event at the university aired by a Hindi news channel.

According to the FIR, police slapped the case of sedition against JNUSU president Kumar on 11 February after obtaining the video clip of the event, held two days earlier, from the channel though policemen were  present at the event.

Police had arrested Kumar on 12 February, accusing him of making anti-India remarks at the event organised by a Leftist students' union to protest against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

Students of JNU have been maintaining that Kumar never raised such objectionable slogans. The FIR was registered based on the video clip obtained from the channel’s office on 11 February.

The FIR said after receiving information from JNU about possible trouble at the event, three constables were sent in civil clothes there. “HC Rambir No. 2923/SD, CT Karmbir No. 1664/SD, CT Dharmbir No. 3846/SD were sent in civil dress to the Sabarmati Dhaba and were briefed accordingly,” the FIR said. There were some policemen in uniform too. In the later stages of investigation, the police acquired two more video clips.

The footage was broadcast on February 10 evening, following which the police sent a letter to the channel’s editor and obtained the video clip in a CD the next day.

According to the FIR,  the video showed that students raised pro-Pakistan slogans at the event. It said 80-90 students were present at the event. Police said they have identified 10 students, including Umar Khalid.

Noam Chomsky backs kanhaiya Kumar
Eminent scientists and writers from across the world, including renowned thinker Noam Chomsky and Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk, have joined the chorus of protest against the arrest of JNU students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar in a sedition case.

A statement signed by 86 academicians from renowned universities abroad condemns “the culture of authoritarian menace that the present government in India has generated” and said those in power are replicating the dark times of an oppressive colonial period and of the Emergency of the mid-1970s. The statement also condemned police's action in this matter.