The Patiala House court on Friday summoned the investigating officer in the Kanhaiya Kumar sedition case after the public prosecutor said the Delhi government had still not decided on prosecuting the former Jawaharlal Nehru University student leader, PTI reported. The sanction has been pending with the Delhi government since February despite multiple extensions allowed by the court.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Manish Khurana asked the investigating officer to appear before the court on December 11. On September 18, the judge had given the government another month to decide on the sanctions, saying that the delay in approving the prosecution had wasted judicial time.

The police had filed a chargesheet in the case in January, 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 remains pending, and on September 6, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said his government was yet to decide on it.

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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