The Delhi HC on Monday reserved its order on the bail plea of JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar, arrested on sedition charges, till March 2.
On being asked by the judge if there was any CCTV footage or other evidence to prove that Kanhaiya was raising slogans, the Delhi Police told the court that “in the video Kanhaiya cannot be seen shouting slogans. However, there are witnesses to his shouting slogans.”
Kanhaiya’s lawyer Kapil Sibal, however, told the court that his client was only there to break fight as he opposed anti national slogans and didn’t raise them.
Meanwhile, a Delhi court allowed the custodial interrogation of two JNU students, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, arrested in a sedition case, by one more day.
The court extended the police custody of the duo, who had allegedly organised a controversial event at the JNU on February 9 where anti-India slogans were said to have been raised, after police contended that they were required for further probe in the case to unearth the larger conspiracy.
According to the police sources, the anti-terror unit of Delhi police — Special Cell — to which the case has been transferred, needed some time to interrogate both the accused.
The police has claimed that around 22 people present at the flashpoint JNU event, including some outsiders, have been identified after the joint interrogation of Khalid, Anirban and JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar arrested in the same case. Khalid and Anirban are in police remand since their surrender and subsequent arrest on February 24.
Earlier, the Delhi High Court had ordered that “confidentiality” be maintained during the remand proceedings of Umar and Anirban, besides Kumar, while directing the police to ensure that no one “suffers even a scratch” and there is no ruckus this time.
Lawyers had allegedly assaulted Kumar when he was brought to Patiala House Court for remand proceedings, in defiance of a Supreme Court order, on February 17. Two days earlier, when Kumar was to be brought to the court, the same set of lawyers had thrashed journalists and JNU students and teachers.
The high court order came during the hearing on Kumar’s bail plea after it was informed that the student leader and Umar and Anirban were apprehending threat to their safety and security during production before Patiala House courts for remand proceedings.
