Court Allows Delhi Police to Withdraw Sedition Case Against Shehla Rashid

New Delhi- A Delhi court has permitted the withdrawal of a 2019 sedition case against former JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) vice president Shehla Rashid Shora over her tweets on the Army, police sources said.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Anuj Kumar Singh passed the order on February 27, following an application by the prosecution stating that Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena had revoked his sanction to prosecute Shora. The approval for withdrawal was granted by the L-G on December 23, 2024, based on the recommendation of a Screening Committee.

The case, registered in 2019 at the Special Cell police station in New Delhi, included charges of sedition, promoting enmity between different groups, and inciting riots—offences carrying a maximum punishment of life imprisonment. The FIR was lodged following a complaint by a person named Alakh Alok Srivastava.

Shora was accused of making statements prejudicial to harmony through her tweets dated August 18, 2019, in which she alleged that the Army had entered houses and “tortured” locals in Kashmir. The Army had dismissed these allegations as baseless.

The prosecution sanction for the case had initially been sought by the Delhi Police and supported by the Home Department of the Delhi government. However, with the L-G’s withdrawal of sanction, the court has now allowed the case to be dropped.