Don’t support anti-national slogans: JNU’s Kanhaiya Kumar tells court

However, when the bench suggested that they would consider it on Friday, the lawyers agreed.

“I believe in the unity and integrity of India and I do not support any unconstitutional or anti-national activities”, Kumar was quoted as saying at the Pataiala House Court, where his bail plea was heard.

It came as an estimated 5,000 people, chanting “release Kanhaiya Kumar” and “down with state terrorism”, marched through the centre of New Delhi in one of the biggest student protests India has seen in years.

The court also recorded the statement of Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar that the lawyers representing Kanhaiya Kumar before the high court and media personnel be provided with full security.

Seeking bail, he said even the Delhi Police doesn’t require further custody as its public reports say no concrete evidence has been found against the petitioner.

A police crackdown on a prestigious Indian university and the arrest of some of its students on charges of sedition has sparked protests from student groups at other Indian universities.

Former Delhi University lecturer S.A.R. Geelani, also arrested for organising a similar meeting at the Press Club of India, was on Thursday sent to 14 days in judicial custody.

On Thursday, thousands of students from universities and colleges staged a massive protest in Delhi to demand Kumar’s release.

As for reports of journalists and Kanhaiya Kumar being thrashed, the police denied it, and said, “The police prevented escalation of violence by closing the gates”.

In his plea filed through JNU professor Himanshu, Kanhaiya said the “immediate” reason behind his petition was the “surcharged atmosphere of violence at the Patiala House Courts” and the “physical violence and intimidation” he and a large number of students, teachers and journalists had faced. Video recordings of the incident and transcripts have also been enclosed with the report. The observation case when lawyer R P Luthra alleged that Delhi Police is being pressurised not to oppose the bail application of the jailed students’ union leader. The apex court termed “extraordinary circumstances” the violence in the Patiala House courts, where Kumar was attacked by a group of lawyers, and rejected a lawyer’s contention that a lot of importance was being given to one case.

“The common sense in India has become that university spaces should align with a certain decorum which falls in with nationalist tendency, especially with this government in power, because before this we’ve had supporters of Maoist movement, it doesn’t mean they are anti-national”, Devrit explains.