Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Friday that his government was yet to take any decision about the police’s request for sanction to prosecute former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union President Kanhaiya Kumar and others in a 2016 sedition case, PTI reported. Earlier in the day, reports had suggested that the Aam Aadmi Party government was set to reject the police’s demand to grant sanction.

However, Kejriwal added that the government’s home department will take a decision after taking all facts into consideration. He asserted that there will be no political interference in the case.

In January, the police had filed a chargesheet naming student activists Kumar, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya in the sedition case. The other accused include Kashmiri students Aquib Hussain, Mujeeb Hussain, Muneeb Hussain, Umar Gul, Rayeea Rasool and Bashir Bhat.

On February 6, the police had told the court that the sanctions were still pending with the state government. The court had asked the police to get the sanctions by February 28. However, the Kejriwal-led government told the court in April that it needed a month to examine the matter.

Kumar, Khalid and Bhattacharya were arrested in February 2016 on sedition charges for their involvement in a protest in which several students allegedly shouted “anti-national” slogans. The protest, which was against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, had led to outrage by Hindutva groups.

The case is scheduled to come up in the Patiala House Court on September 18, The Indian Express reported.

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