New Delhi police arrest 2 students in sedition case

Jawaharlal Nehru University students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, who are charged with sedition, have been kept in separate room so that they do not influence each other. Police said it has shortlisted photographs of eight persons who are suspected to be outsiders and allegedly involved in anti-national sloganeering at the event.

Earlier in the day, Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi asserted that coercive action will be taken against the lawyers if they do not respond to the police notices.

“The investigation agency is looking for linkage between the petitioner (Kanhaiya), his co-accused and the said foreign elements”, it said.

During interrogation, Khalid has completely denied anti-national slogans being raised on February 9 during a pro-Afzal Guru event at the campus while Anirban has said slogans were raised.

The investigation of the present case is at a stage and in case the liberty of bail is granted to the petitioner, the very line of investigation will be adversely affected, it said.

“I would like to tell the court that in the light of the status report filed by the police, there is no evidence of anti-India slogans raised by Kanhaiya”.

Bilkulonline.com, New Delhi, Feb 24: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday adjourned the bail plea hearing of JNU Student Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, arrested on sedition charges, for February 29.

Police is also probing if he was trying to save some of his professors who helped him in absconding. “The upbeat mood of the crowd in lawyers’ dress who were continuously shouting slogans and abuses to present a terrorising atmosphere was clearly visible”, the panel’s report said. But he said he opposed the hanging of Afzal Guru and Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.

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. Police did not enter the campus, but waited outside for them to come out and surrender.