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Delhi HC grants bail to Kanhaiya Kumar: As it happened
The Delhi High Court granted bail to JNU Students` Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar on Wednesday evening.
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Kanhaiya granted interim bail for 6 months subject to outcome of probe, says Shailendra Babbar, special public prosecutor.
At the last hearing on Monday, Justice Pratibha Rani had reserved the order after over three hours of hearing.
Also Read - Major relief to JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar as Delhi High Court grants him bail
Will decide further course of action after reading court order, says Delhi Police lawyer.
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Kumar granted bail on personal bail bond of Rs 10000. Court has also asked Kanhaiya to cooperate in investigation.
The JNUSU president has got six months interim bail.
Kumar may not leave Tihar Jail tonight, as per media reports.
JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar's gets bail.
Delhi High Court's order on JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar's bail shortly
JNU students have started their protest march against the arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya from Mandi House in central Delhi. AISA and NSUI members have also joined the protest.
As per reports, the Delhi High Court is expected to pronounce order on Kanhaiya Kumar's bail application after 4 pm.
Meanwhile, there is no update on the JNU students' march to Parliament which was supposed to start at 2 pm.
Youth Congress is holding a protest march against HRD Minister Smriti Irani on the JNU and Rohith Vemula issues.
Also Read: Youth Congress holds protest march against Smriti Irani at Jantar Mantar
Students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University are continuing their protests against the arrest of fellow students Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya in a sedition case and will march to Parliament in the afternoon today to demand their release.
The 'solidarity march' will begin from Mandi House in central Delhi at 2 pm.
In the meantime, a Delhi government-ordered forensic probe of a set of video clippings of the controversial February 9 JNU event has found that two videos were "manipulated" where voices of persons not present in the clips were added.
Out of seven videos sent by the Delhi government to the Hyderabad-based Truth Labs, two have been found to be tampered with while the rest were authentic, sources said.
"In the manipulated clips, videos have been edited and voices have been added. The main report with a supplementary has been submitted to the Delhi government," they said.
When asked whether the voices that were added were of persons not seen in the manipulated clips, they said "naturally".
The Arvind Kejriwal led-government had on February 13 ordered a magisterial inquiry into the alleged raising of anti-national slogans on the Jawaharlal Nehru University's campus on February 9.
Earlier, a video showing raising of anti-India slogans allegedly by outsiders at the event had given a fresh twist to the case.
In the video, the youths, whose faces were covered, could be seen raising slogans against India.
Several videos of the event have surfaced since the row broke out leading to the arrest of JNU students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar on charges of sedition, triggering widespread protests.
The NDA government, meanwhile, said on Tuesday that it is reviewing a section of the Sedition Law, under which JNU student leaders Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya are currently in jail.
The Ministry of Law and Justice has asked the Law Commission to study the usage of Section 124A (Sedition) of the IPC.
On Tuesday, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, the two JNU students who have been charged with sedition, were sent to 14-day judicial custody.
A case against Khalid and Bhattacharya was registered at Vasant Kunj police station for shouting anti-India slogans during an event held on February 9 at JNU campus to protest against the execution of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
They had later surrendered before the police after evading arrest for several days.
Also Read: Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya sent to 14-day judicial custody
Will JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar get bail in the JNU sedition case? This is likely to be decided by the Delhi High Court on Wednesday when it resumes hearing on Kanhaiya's bail plea.
Justice Pratibha Rani had on Monday reserved the order after over three hours of hearing on the bail plea of Kanhaiya, who is accused of raising anti-India slogans inside the JNU campus during an event organised on February 9.
During the hearing, while Kanhaiya's counsel had argued that the student leader had never raised any slogans against the nation, the Delhi Police had maintained that there was evidence that he and others were shouting anti-India slogans and were holding Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru's posters.
The police had claimed that Kanhaiya was "not cooperating" in the probe and even came out with "contradictory" statements in joint interrogation by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Delhi Police.
Defence lawyers, including senior advocate Kapil Sibal, had countered the allegations saying there were "some outsiders with covered faces who raised anti-India slogans and Kanhaiya was seen in CCTV footage asking them for their identity cards".
The bench had also asked tough questions to the police on slapping sedition charge on the accused and asked it to show evidence against him of his "active role" in raising anti-India slogans.
Kanhaiya had also distanced himself from Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, the two other accused arrested in the case.
During the hearing, the Delhi government's counsel had urged the court to grant bail to Kanhaiya, who is currently in Tihar Jail under judicial custody.
Kanhaiya was arrested on February 12 in the case which was registered under Sections 124A (sedition) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.
According to the police, a group of students had on February 9 held an event in the campus and allegedly shouted slogans against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Guru.
Also Read: Jail or bail for JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar? Delhi HC to decide on Wednesday
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court granted bail to JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar on Wednesday evening.