Umar Khalid confesses raising pro-Afzal Guru slogans

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday, while agreeing to hear a plea filed by JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya seeking security before they surrender to court, asked them to “secretly” provide the place and time where they want to surrender. Their whereabouts have not been revealed yet since there is an imminent threat to their security.

“The Registrar of the Delhi High Court and police should ensure that no ruckus, as happened in the past, should take place while the accused are being produced”. However, no official confirmation has been received.

The student, arrested on charged of sedition, admitted that Afzal Guru hanging was debated and discussed in past as well.

Apart from expressing his concern over the rising interference of the rightwing ideology as espoused by RSS in the country’s higher education sector, Mr.Gandhi made a strong case before the Congress Working Committee members on Monday that the party should defend the “integrity” of JNU by standing up for the students who have been facing the charges of sedition. It is unlikely that the duo will be granted bail.

A medical check was conducted on both the students in the police station and they were questioned for around five hours. A status report on the questioning of the students is slated to be given to Delhi Police commissioner BS Bassi and the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Mr.Sharma said the “doctored videos as alleged” that show the JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar chanting anti-national slogans “exposes” the BJP government.

Kanhaiya Kumar, the JNU student’s union president, was arrested earlier this month over the controversial event.

Delhi Police had issued a look-out notice on 20 February against Khalid, Bhattacharya, Naga, Ashutosh and Prakash.

On Tuesday, Khalid and Bhattacharya went to the high court for permission to surrender at a secret location. Anti-India slogans were raised at the gathering.

Among their other demands were, the release of Kanhaiya Kumar, action by the Bar Council against the lawyers responsible for the attack at the Patiala House Court, withdrawal of police presence at JNU and ensuring safety of Kumar and Umar Khalid.

She said, “One should not exceed the scope of any petition and the prayer made in it” which included that the accused on surrender be sent to judicial custody by the High Court itself instead of producing them before a trial court.