A city court on Tuesday took on record the status report filed by Delhi Police in its probe in a sedition case against JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar and others for deciding the maintainability of AAP government’s plea seeking action against three media houses. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sumit Dass perused the report but rejected the request of the Special Cell of the Delhi Police that it be kept in a sealed cover.
The prayer was made by the probe agency citing the ongoing investigation in the sedition case.
According to an investigator involved in the probe, the status report said that the video of a prominent news channel has been found to be genuine. The news channel has been arrayed as one of the accused in the complaint.
The court has fixed the matter for August 24 for further hearing in the case.
The status report was filed by the police in pursuance to the court’s earlier order on Delhi government’s complaint seeking prosecution of three news channels for allegedly showing “doctored” videos relating to a controversial event held in the JNU campus on February 9 where anti-India slogans were allegedly raised.
The complaint said the channels had reported about clash between students groups at JNU and showed footage of the incident. The court is yet to pass an order on Delhi government’s complaint. The government’s counsel had said the video was inaudible so the channels had showed a bubble on the screen with an alleged text “Pakistan Zindabad” and the anchor/reporter suggested that such anti—national slogans were being shouted by JNU students which would not be tolerated by the country.
The complaint claimed that these programmes were also uploaded on the websites of these channels on ‘YouTube’, adding that a CD of the footage was sent to forensic science laboratory and the experts have opined that all these bubbles were insertions and the tapes were tampered with.
The APP government’s plea has sought prosecution of the three channels, their editors and anchors for alleged offences under various sections including 415 (cheating), 465 (punishment for forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) of IPC and provisions of the Information and Technology Act.— PTI
