Sole motive to gain cheap publicity: Allahabad HC dismisses plea seeking revocation of citizenship of Kanhaiya Kumar
Sole motive to gain cheap publicity: Allahabad HC dismisses plea seeking revocation of citizenship of Kanhaiya Kumar
The Allahabad High Court has rejected the plea seeking revocation of citizenship of Kanhaiya Kumar former President of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Delhi .
In addition the petitioner Nageshwar Mishra has been fined 25 thousand for unnecessarily filing the application. The court has asked to deposit the damages within 30 days. In case of default in depositing the said money within the stipulated period, the same shall be recovered from the petitioner as arrears of land revenue by the District Collector.
During the hearing a bench of Justices Shashikant Gupta and Shamim Ahmed said that the petition filed by Nageshwar Mishra, who lives in Varanasi, was filed for publicity without going through the provisions of law. The present public interest litigation is wholly frivolous and an abuse of the process of law. The court said that,
……..The intention of the petitioner, in our opinion, is not to espouse the interest of the public, but only of his own self, by gaining publicity. Such conduct is highly condemnable. The present public interest litigation is wholly frivolous and an abuse of the process of law…..
The High Court stated that Kanhaiya Kumar was born in India. He is a citizen of India born. Therefore, their citizenship cannot be terminated only on the basis of trial of the case. The Court cited the provisions of Article 5 (c) of the Constitution and Section 10 of the Indian Citizenship Act, 1955, stating that an Indian citizen can be denied his citizenship only if when he has been granted citizenship under naturalization (the process of making a foreign person a citizen of India) or the procedure provided in the Constitution.
Advocate Shailesh Kumar Tripathi on behalf of petitioner stated that despite the anti-national slogans raised by Kanhaiya Kumar, the Government of India is not taking any action to terminate his Indian Citizenship. He referred Section 10 of the Indian Citizenship Act in support of his prayer.
The allegations have been made in the petition against, Kanhaiya Kumar, a former President of the Students Union of JNU for allegedly raising anti national slogans during an event that took place in JNU campus on 9.2.2016.
On which a case was filed against them under the provisions of sedition. It was also said that Kanhaiya and his companions refer to the terrorists as freedom fighters who are attacking the unity and integrity of India and try to destroy it.
By Priya Kumari
