Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar, who has been booked under sedition charge in connection with an event at JNU where anti-national slogans chanted, applied for bail in Supreme Court on Thursday. However, the apex court will hear the bail request on Friday. This charge of sedition has entangled the government in a massive controversy.
Kumar was arrested by Delhi Police on February 12 and is in judicial custody till March 02.
The apex court bench comprising Justice J Chelameswar and Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre said they will hear the plea at 10.30 am on Friday. Mr. Kumar will be represented in the Supreme Court by top lawyers Raju Ramachandra and Soli Sorabjee, who has argued that the charge of sedition has been wrongly used for the student.
Lawyer Vrinda Grover, who filed the plea on behalf of Kanhaiya Kumar, said in the petition that since the atmosphere in the Patiala House court complex was not conducive for moving the plea application, Kanhaiya Kumar was invoking his right under Article 32 to move the Supreme Court directly for bail.
JNU witnessed clashes between two student groups over Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, who was hanged on February 09, 2013 in Tihar Jail.
The incident happened after a group of students organised a programme and termed the hanging of Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhatt as “judicial killing”.
