JNU row: Umar Khalid seeks police protection before surrendering, HC agrees to hear plea

JNU student Umar Khalid is facing sedition charges for allegedly raising anti-India slogans.

Pic Courtesy: DNA

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday agreed to give urgent hearing to a plea by two Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students including Umar Khalid, seeking police protection prior to surrender before police.

Delhi HC also agreed to hear another plea seeking directions to police to arrest five JNU students.

The five JNU students are facing sedition charges for allegedly raising anti-India slogans.

The five students Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya, Rama Naga, Ashutosh Kumar and Anant Prakash had gone missing from the campus since February 12 after JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested in a sedition case lodged in connection with an event held on the campus against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru where anti-naitonal slogans were allegedly raised.

JNU vice chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar on Monday assured the teachers' association that the administration will not allow police inside the campus.

Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi has maintained that the five students should join the probe and prove they are innocent.

JNU vice chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar on Monday assured the teachers' association that the administration will not allow police inside the campus.

Khalid who surfaced on campus, 10-days after police began searching for him in connection with a sedition case, says in the last week he got to know things about himself which he never knew.

"My name is, of course, Umar Khalid, but I am not a terrorist. I thank all the students and 'comrades' among the faculty members who took part in what he referred to as a 'fight' by the JNU students.