Delhi court dismisses plea seeking early hearing on JNU violence

A Delhi court has dismissed a plea filed by a Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) professor seeking early hearing of a petition for registration of FIR in a case relating to the attack on students and teachers in the university campus on January 5.

Duty Magistrate Vasundhra Chhaunkar, while dismissing the application, said that it is worth reiterating that the investigation of the FIR already registered regarding the mob violence is in progress and Delhi High Court has directed the probe agency to expedite the matter.

This court abstains itself from making any observations upon the arguments nor the registration of separate FIR as the same may affect the final disposal of an application under Section 156 (3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), the court said on Tuesday.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Suchitra Sen, a professor in the JNU, seeking an early hearing of the plea filed in January for registration of FIR against the mob. The petitioner had also received grievous injuries during the violence.

The Crime Branch of Delhi Police had recently filed a status report on JNU violence stating that the investigation of the case is in progress and all efforts are being made to identify the attackers/assailants and conclude investigation in a time-bound manner.

"The applicant Sucharita Sen was also injured in the incident at Sabarmati T- Point on January 5, 2020, and she filed a separate complaint at PS Vasant Kunj (North) on February 6, 2020. This complaint has been transferred to the Crime Branch," the status report said.

"During the investigation, statement of Sen has been recorded on February 20, 2020, in which she has reiterated her version mentioned in her complaint. Her statement u/s 161 CrPC has also been recorded. MLC (medical test) of Sucharita Sen has been collected from AIIMS which shows the nature of injuries as 'Simple Blunt'," it added.

The report further said that a special investigation team (SIT) was constituted to investigate all the incidents related to January 3, 4 and 5, which happened in the JNU campus.

The petition, filed through advocate Adit Pujari, said that the court had, on January 16, asked the police to file an action taken report (ATR) by March 23 but hearing could not take place in the matter due to the lockdown imposed to contain the spread of COVID-19.

( With inputs from ANI )