Ramjas College incident: Delhi Court warns lawyer
Told not to mix Jawaharlal Nehru University case with Delhi University matter.
New Delhi: A Delhi court on Tuesday warned a lawyer, who had sought lodging of an FIR alleging anti-national sloganeering at Ramjas College in February, against mixing it with the JNU case in which sedition charges were slapped against some students.
“The Delhi Police FIR is not a precedent for me. It is not binding in this case, nor is it a Supreme Court ruling. The JNU charge sheet is also not relevant in this case. These are two different cases. Do not mix JNU matter with the DU case,” metropolitan magistrate Abhilash Malhotra cautioned advocate Vivek Garg.
The JNU incident of February 2016 had hogged limelight after the arrest of its student leaders, including former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union president Kanhaiyya Kumar, while the Ramjas college case involving a clash raising of “anti-national slogans by the students owing allegiance to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Par-ishad, AISA and SFI.
Mr Garg had raised the Ramjas College issue and sought a direction to the police to supply him a copy of the charge sheet filed in the JNU matter when the court made these remarks.
It, however, could not hear arguments due to the absence of the concerned police officers and posted the matter for arguments on the sedition charge for September 14.
“ACP Pankaj Gupta has sought exemption from personal appearance due to official duty. Put up the case for arguments on September 14,” the magistrate said.
The court was hearing Mr Garg’s plea seeking a separate FIR into alleged anti-national slogans raised by members of All India Students’ Association (AISA) and Students’ Federation of India (SFI) at the Ramjas College.
Mr Garg told the court that he needed the “JNU charge sheet” as it wasn't available on Internet. “We need a copy of the FIR too,” he added
On August 29, the court ruled sedition charges can’t be pressed on the basis of an unauthenticated and unreliable video, after it was shown a footage of alleged “anti-national” sloganeering held on February 21 at Ramjas College. Raising doubts on its authenticity, HC said, “You have to be confident of the video’s authenticity” to Mr Garg.