Former DU lecturer SAR Geelani arrested on sedition charges

Image courtesy: ANI

New Delhi: SAR Geelani, a former Delhi University lecturer who has been booked for sedition in connection with an event at the Press Club of India here, was arrested early Tuesday by the Delhi Police, PTI reported.

Geelani was detained by the police late on Monday night and subsequent to his questioning at the Parliament Street Police Station, he was arrested, police said.

"Geelani was arrested around 3 am at the Parliament Street police station under IPC Sections 124A (sedition), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 149 (unlawful assembly)," DCP (New Delhi) Jatin Narwal said.

After his arrest, Geelani was taken to RML Hospital for a medical examination, Narwal added.

Geelani's arrest comes amid the raging row over the arrest of JNU students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar over sedition charges in connection with an event on the varsity's campus against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru on February 9.

At the Press Club event on February 10, a group allegedly shouted slogans hailing Guru, following which the police had registered a case under Sections 124A (sedition), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 149 (unlawful assembly) of the IPC against Geelani and other unnamed persons.

The police had claimed to have registered the FIR taking suo motu cognisance of media clips of the incident.

Police also claimed that Geelani was booked as he is presumed to be the "main organiser" of the event.

"Request for booking a hall at the Press Club was done through Geelani's e-mail and the nature of the event was proposed to be a public meeting, which did not turn out to be so," a senior official had said.

Following the registration of the FIR, the police questioned for two consecutive days DU professor Ali Javed, a Press Club member, who had booked the hall for the event.

Geelani was arrested earlier also in connection with the 2001 Parliament attack case but acquitted for "need of evidence" by the Delhi High Court in October 2003, a decision upheld by the Supreme Court in August 2005, which at the same time had observed that the needle of suspicion pointed towards him.

(With PTI inputs)