Indian police arrest more students on sedition charge

Reiterating similar statement, another SPP Anil Soni said the court has directed to hold Kanhaiyas next hearing at an undisclosed location, in view of his security and safety.

Another three JNU students who face the same charge but were not placed on the police wanted list remain on the campus, where they are protected from arrest because police are not allowed to enter without permission from university authorities.

Two New Delhi students accused of sedition under a colonial-era law surrendered to police late Tuesday night, furthering the saga that has surrounded one of India’s top academic institutions and ignited a national debate on freedom of speech.

Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat pledged to protect Khalid and Bhattacharya after Kumar was assaulted by right-wing lawyers when he appeared in court for a preliminary hearing last week in an apparently orchestrated attack.

The report also said Delhi Police was looking into the “linkage between Kanhaiya and some foreign elements with their mouths covered” who were present during the February 9 event at the university.

If the petitioner is released on bail, he could become a relying point to encourage such anti-India movements, which would not only spread disaffection but would also be contemptuous since the conviction recorded by the competent courts including the Supreme Court is termed as judicial killing, which according to the petitioner and co-accused persons is the result of Brahminical collective conscience, the report said. After five days in police custody, Kanhaiya was sent to Tihar Jail on February 17.

PhD scholar of JNU Umar Khalid, one of the organisers of the event who had surrendered to police last night, is visible in the video but is not seen raising slogans. The high court has ordered the prosecution to give the student leader’s lawyers advance notice if they will be seeking police remand so that the defence can oppose it, including the grounds for remand and when and where they will be applying for it.

It also asked the JNU students about the anti-national slogans and former Du professor Geelani, who has been charged with sedition for organising a pro-Afzal Guru program at Press Club of India.

Besides Kumar, Khalid and Bhattacharya, the other students are Rama Naga, Ashutosh Kumar and Anant Prakash.

The judge fixed February 29 for further hearing on Kanhaiya’s bail application. The police asked why such event was organised and from where did the money came.

Inside parliament on Wednesday, the treasury benches, and outside it, the ruling party president, Amit Shah, guided the discourse to “nationalism” to silence all dissenting voices.

The budget sessions in both houses of parliament today have seen the effect of the ongoing JNU issue and the suicide of a Hyderabad University student, Rohith Vemula.