Cops file status report in case over Afzal row

A city court on Tuesday took on record the status report filed by Delhi police in its probe into a sedition case against JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar and others for deciding the maintainability of the AAP government plea seeking action against three media houses.

Chief metropolitan magistrate Sumit Dass perused the report, but rejected the request of the special cell that it be kept in a sealed cover. The agency had made the plea, citing its ongoing investigation in the case.

According to an investigator, the status report said the video aired by TV news channel had been found to be genuine. The channel has been arraigned as one of the accused in the complaint.

The court has fixed the matter for August 24. The status report was filed by the police after the court’s earlier order on the Delhi government’s complaint, seeking prosecution of three TV news channels for allegedly showing doctored videos related to an event in JNU on February 9.

The complaint said the channels had reported about clash between the JNU students’ groups and showed footage of the incident. The court is yet to pass an order on the Delhi government’s complaint. The government counsel had said the video was inaudible so the channels had showed a bubble on the screen with fabricated text and the anchor/reporter had suggested that anti-national slogans were being shouted by the JNU students, which would not be tolerated by the country.