Former Delhi University lecturer SAR Geelani has been booked for sedition in connection with an event at Press Club of India here, in which a group shouted slogans hailing Afzal Guru, who was hanged on February 9, 2013 in Delhi’s Tihar jail.
“An FIR has been registered against Geelani and other unnamed persons under Sections 124A (sedition), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 149 (unlawful assembly) of IPC in connection with the event at the Press Club in which anti-India sloganeering took place,” DCP (New Delhi) Jatin Narwal said today.
The action against Geelani, who was acquitted in the Parliament attack case, comes even as Delhi Police yesterday registered a case of sedition in connection with a Tuesday event at JNU campus here against the hanging of Afzal Guru following complaints by BJP MP Maheish Girri and ABVP.
Police today claimed to have registered the sedition case against Geelani and others after taking suo motu cognizance of media clips of the incident.
“By the time we registered the case, we had received no complaints from any party,” Narwal said.
Police also claimed that Geelani was booked as he is presumed to be the main organiser of the event.
“Request for booking a hall at press club was done through Geelani’s e-mail and the nature of the event was proposed to be a public meeting,” Narwal said.
“We are monitoring video footage and trying to ascertain the identity of the ones involved in anti-India sloganeering. We shall question several individuals who were present at the event,” a senior official said.
Press Club of India yesterday issued a show-cause notice to the member who had booked the conference hall for the event on Wednesday.
When contacted, Professor Ali Javed of Delhi University, the member of the club who had booked the premises for the presser, distanced himself from the event, saying he does not approve of the sloganeering and he was not one of the organisers.
As many as eight students have been debarred from academic activities by JNU pending a disciplinary inquiry into an event at varsity against hanging of Afzal Guru.
The students who have been debarred based on the interim report of the “disciplinary” committee which was instituted earlier this week to probe the involvement of students in the event, will be allowed to stay in their respective hostels to enable them to represent their stand for a fair investigation.
The university, however, did not identify the eight students.
“Considering the seriousness of the incidents, and in order to enable a fair enquiry, the committee has debarred the eight students from academic activities with immediate effect during the pendency of the enquiry.
“However, to permit them represent their stand for a fair investigation, they will be allowed to stay in their respective hostels as a guest, during the period of the enquiry,” JNU VC Jagdeesh Kumar said.
The varsity also issued a statement saying, “the inquiry committee appointed by the VC met yesterday and today to finalize the interim report and has recommended the action”.
“The recommendations are being implemented. The authorities request everyone to help maintain peace and academic atmosphere on campus and avoid any external interference in vitiating the atmosphere,” it added.
When asked about who these students are, the VC said, “it is in best interest of the students that their identity be protected”.
The committee is examining all the evidences and witnesses and is expected to come up with its report in two weeks.
The controversy erupted earlier this week when few students had pasted posters across the campus inviting people to gather for a protest march against “judicial killing of Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhatt” and in solidarity with “struggle of Kashmiri people for their democratic right to self determination” at varsity’s Sabarmati dhaba.
