Kanhaiya Kumar's bail plea: HC reserves order; Delhi govt terms JNUSU prez 'innocent'

Kanhaiya Kumar, who was arrested on February 12, was in police custody till February 17 and was later remanded in judicial custody till March 2.

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday reserved its order for March 2 on bail plea of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar arrested in a sedition case for allegedly raising anti-India slogans in the campus.  

As the hearing resumed today, opposing the bail plea, Delhi Police said that Kumar was part of February 9th gathering & was leading the protest.

Delhi Police further said that video footage is just a corroborative evidence, there is more evidence against Kanhaiya Kumar to prove his offense, ANI reported.

"We do have independent witnesses- JNU officials, Chief security officers and students of JNU," Delhi Police added.

However they said, "In the video, Kanhaiya Kumar cannot be seen shouting slogans. However, there are witnesses to his shouting slogans."

Meanwhile, appearing for the JNUSU prez, senior Congress leader and eminent lawyer Kapil Sibal in Delhi High Court submitted evidences stating that no case of sedition can be proved against Kumar. 

Sibal had earlier contended that as per the status report filed by Delhi Police there was no evidence of any anti-India slogans being raised by his client.

The Delhi Court today also extended the police custody of two other accused students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya by one day.

Notably, Delhi government also told the apex court today that there is no evidence against Kanhaiya Kumar and urged for his immediate release.

"He (Kanhaiya Kumar) should be given bail. No innocent person can be punished," ANI quoted Delhi government as saying.

Umar and Anirban had surrendered before police late on February 23 night. Both are in police custody till today.

Kanhaiya, who was arrested on February 12, was in police custody till February 17 and was later remanded in judicial custody till March 2 amid violence at the court premises during the remand proceedings.

He was taken to one-day police custody on February 25 and was thereafter remanded back in judicial custody.

In its status report filed before the high court, the police had alleged that Kanhaiya had not only participated in the event in JNU campus on February 9 where anti-national slogans were allegedly raised but had "actually organised" the programme.

It had claimed that besides Kanhaiya and other accused, some "foreign elements" were also present during the event and they had covered their faces to hide their identity.

"The investigation agency is looking for linkage between the petitioner (Kanhaiya), his co-accused and the said foreign elements who were hiding their identity by covering their faces," the police had said while opposing his bail plea earlier.

(With Agency inputs)