Delhi HC refuses to grant protection to Umar Khalid from arrest, asks him to surrender

Delhi High Court on Tuesday refused to grant interim protection from arrest till tomorrow to two JNU students, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, accused in sedition case.

Delhi: Delhi High Court on Tuesday refused to grant interim protection from arrest to two JNU students, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, accused in sedition case.

The court also made it clear that Khalid and Bhattacharya must follow procedure and surrender. 

The HC refrained from giving any specific direction on granting any interim protection from their arrest, with Justice Pratibha Rani saying "let the matter be heard tomorrow."

Advocate Kamini Jaiswal, appearing for the two students sought protection from their arrest till tomorrow but the judge said, "I am simply re-notifying the matter for tomorrow. We are not disposing of the petition. Let it be heard tomorrow."

While refusing to grant protection from arrest, the court asked both petitioners to secretly give details of the date, place and time where they will surrender, to the court and senior police officials will ensure their safety.

DCP (South) Prem Nath, however, did not agree to the place the petitioners wished to surrender, saying he has some inputs due to which the place mentioned by the accused was not accessible to police.

At this, the judge called the DCP and the accused's counsel Trideep Pias to come to her chamber and give reasons for the objection.

After nearly 10 minutes of in-chamber discussion, the judge posted the matter for tomorrow for further consideration.

On the other hand, Delhi HC dismissed another plea filed by a lawyer seeking direction to Delhi Police to enter JNU campus and arrest the accused students.

Delhi HC had today agreed to give an urgent hearing to a plea seeking immediate arrest of the five JNU students accused of raising anti-India slogans.

The petition was filed before a bench of justices BD Ahmed and RK Gauba.

It had also sought a direction to the JNU to allow Delhi Police to enter its premises to arrest the five students - Umar Khalid, Anant Prakash Narayan, Ashutosh Kumar, Rama Naga and Anirban Bhattacharya.

The petition mentioned through senior advocate Adish C Aggarwala and advocate VK Anand had also sought action against the faculty members of the University for allegedly trying to "obstruct the process of administration of criminal justice system and assisting for violation of law of lands," as per PTI.

Citing media reports, the petition had said that on February 21 the five students wanted in the case resurfaced in JNU at around 8 PM, adding that yesterday the Vice Chancellor had refused to give permission to Delhi Police to enter the university campus to arrest the students.

It had also sought direction to the Central and Delhi government, Delhi Police and JNU to file status report of the entire incident till date. 

(With Agency inputs)