New Delhi, Feb 24: Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, who were accused of sedition for shouting anti-India slogans at the institute, surrendered outside the campus and were taken to Vasant Vihar police station in south Delhi on Tuesday night.
The duo came out of the university’s administrative block around 11.30 pm and walked towards the main gate surrounded by hundreds of students, who formed a human chain and chanted “Comrade Kanhaiya Lal Salam”. They got into a security van and they left the campus.
A leader of the ultra-Leftist Democratic Students Union (DSU), Banojyotsna Lahiri, said they return soon. “There is no need for anyone to be sad as the comrades will come back,” she said as DSU members stopped mediapersons from speaking to the Khalid and Bhattacharya.
The midnight drama followed after the Delhi high court refused to grant interim protection from arrest to Khalid and Bhattacharya, who had appealed for police security to surrender.
Besides, the court directed Delhi Police to file a status report on arrested JNU student union leader Kanhaiya Kumar’s bail plea by Wednesday, the next date of hearing. The court, which advised the accused students to follow the rule of law, will also hear pleas of Khalid and Bhattacharya.
Kumar was charged with sedition and arrested after TV news reported students making hate speeches and shouting anti-India slogans at a February 9 event on the campus to mark the anniversary of 2003 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru’s hanging.
Police opposed the bail plea of Kumar, who was arrested 11 days ago.
Khalid, a PhD scholar and former member of the ultra-radical Democratic Students Union (DSU), was the organiser of the event. He, Bhattacharya, JNU student union general secretary Rama Naga, Ashutosh Kumar and Anant Prakash Narayan were accused by police of shouting seditious slogans.
They were hiding since Kumar’s arrest but resurfaced on the campus on Sunday night. Police have not arrested them, though Bassi issued a warning. “If we feel that they are unlikely to abide by the law, we have options available and we will not shy away from using them,” he said.
Rama Naga, Ashutosh and Anant have agreed to cooperate with the police investigation.
When the court heard in the afternoon Khalid and Bhattacharya’s appeal for protection from arrest until their surrender, it asked the petitioners to secretly give details of the date, place and time where they will give in.
Khalid and Bhattacharya’s counsel Kamini Jaiswal told the court that her clients were facing “threat to life and limb”, constantly. She referred to media reports of some advocates threatening to kill the students.
Delhi Police commissioner BS Bassi, who last week said police will not contest Kumar’s bail application, justified the change in stand, saying circumstances have changed.
“If he comes out on bail, he is bound to impact the investigation and influence witnesses. He is likely to indulge in activities that could break penal laws. That is why we have opposed his bail,” Bassi said.
Heavy security ringed the high court complex after violence at the Patiala House courts on February 15 and 17 when rogue lawyers assaulted Kumar, litigants as well as journalists.
Kumar, who will be in judicial custody till March 2, had moved his bail plea in the high court following a Supreme Court direction. He had approached the top court for bail citing threat to his life in Tihar jail.
