A Delhi court on Thursday chided the Aam Aadmi Party government for delaying the process to grant the city police the required sanction to prosecute former Jawaharlal Nehru University student leaders accused of sedition, PTI reported. Former JNU Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar is among the accused in the 2016 sedition case.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Deepak Sherawat said the court will proceed with the case even if the administration does not grant the requisite permission. “You [Delhi Police] took three years [to file a chargesheet],” Sherawat said. “Now they [Delhi government] will also take three years [to grant permission]. Whether sanction has been granted or not, I will proceed with the case.”

On February 6, a court in Delhi had asked the city police to procure sanctions by February 28. Earlier, on January 19, it had criticised the police for filing a chargesheet in the 2016 case without the approval of the Delhi government.

The case is related to accusations against Kanhaiya Kumar and others in connection with anti-national slogans allegedly chanted at the campus during a demonstration on February 9, 2016. The Delhi Police had filed a chargesheet in a local court on January 14.

The police told the court on Thursday that Kumar had organised the event in 2016 without procuring the necessary approvals. The police also said that former JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya had chanted anti-India slogans during the event.

The court scheduled the hearing for March 11 and asked the police to submit video footage of the event.