Delhi’s Patiala House court on February 27 allowed the plea by Delhi police to close a 2019 sedition case against former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student leader Shehla Rashid.
The order was passed by Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Anuj Kumar Singh of Patiala House Courts on February 27.
The Delhi Police had filed a petition in the court seeking permission to withdraw the 2019 case. The application noted that Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena, who had earlier granted sanction to prosecute Rashid, has now withdrawn it.
As per the application, the case was examined by the Screening Committee and placed before the Government of NCT of Delhi for consideration. The Delhi Lieutenant Governor approved the recommendation of the Screening Committee as regards FIR No. 0152/2019 PS Special Cell, Delhi for withdrawal from prosecution under Section 196 CrPC.
The Delhi Police had registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Rashid based on a complaint over her tweets regarding the situation in Kashmir following the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
Advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava had filed a complaint with the Delhi Police Special Cell, following which an FIR was registered for sedition and other offences under the Indian Penal Code
Rashid had claimed in her tweets that the armed forces were torturing civilians and ransacking houses in Jammu & Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370.
In September 2019, an Additional Sessions Court in Delhi had granted Rashid interim protection from arrest.
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