The Patiala House Court on Wednesday gave the Delhi government another month to decide on the sanction to prosecute former Jawaharlal Nehru University student leaders in a 2016 sedition case, PTI reported. The court said the time being taken to approve the prosecution had wasted judicial time.

Earlier in the day, the Delhi Police had told the court that its request for sanction was still pending before the Aam Aadmi Party government. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Manish Khurana adjourned the hearing in the matter to October 25.

In January, the police had filed a chargesheet naming student activists Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya in the sedition case. The other accused include Kashmiri students Aquib Hussain, Mujeeb Hussain, Muneeb Hussain, Umar Gul, Rayees 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 then asked the police to get the sanctions by February 28. However, the government told the court in April that it needed a month to examine the matter. The sanction has not been given yet.

On September 6, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said his government was yet to decide on the sanction.

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.

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