The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday dismissed a 2016 petition seeking a SIT probe into an assault on then JNU Students' Union President Kanhaiya Kumar when he was produced at a court in New Delhi.
In February 2016, Kanahiya Kumar was beaten when he was produced by Delhi Police in the court in connection with a sedition case. He was accused of sedition after anti-national slogans were raised in a meeting held in the university campus. Kanhaiya Kumar was not present at the meeting.
Observing that "we can't flog a dead horse to life", Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice R. Banumathi dismissed the plea by lawyer Kamini Jaiswal, who also sought initiation of contempt proceedings against two lawyers involved in the attack.
"We don't think we will flog a dead horse to life," Justice Gogoi said, brushing aside plea by counsel Prashant Bhushan that "if this kind of incidents go unpunished... and it involves contempt of court."
"Forget it... we don't think we will. We don't think there is contempt," Justice Gogoi said. Stressing that it was not inclined to continue with the matter, the court said: "Our order does not prevent the petitioner taking further steps permitted in law."
Kanhaiya Kumar, who has penned a book 'Bihar to Tihar', was jailed in Tihar for over a month in February 2016. He was later released on bail but the incident has shaken the image of the police that had re-used erstwhile British-era sedition case against a student leader without gathering proper evidence.
