In U-turn, Delhi police opposes Kanhaiya’s bail plea in HC

New Delhi: In a complete U-turn, police on Tuesday opposed in the Delhi High Court the bail plea of JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar, arrested in a sedition case, in which the court has asked for a status report by tomorrow.

Also yesterday, shouting slogans and holding placards, thousands of students and teachers marched through the heart of the Indian capital on Tuesday to protest the recent death of a student who faced caste discrimination and the arrest of a student leader on sedition charges.

The protesters from New Delhi’s two main universities marched near the Indian parliament, demanding the student’s immediate release and condemning violence by supporters of the ruling Hindu nationalist party.

When the matter came up for hearing as directed by the Supreme Court last week, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta, appearing for the police, told Justice Pratibha Rani that they were opposing the bail plea of Kanhaiya, who was arrested 11 days ago.

Delhi Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi, who had last week said that police would not object if Kanhaiya applied for bail, on Tuesday justified the change in their stand saying that the circumstances have changed.

“The circumstances when I had said so, those have totally changed,” he said.

Bassi said Kanhaiya showed repentance on his part when he issued an appeal on the day he was produced before a court but later denied having issued any such appeal and made certain allegations which were “false”.

“We have reasonable apprehension that if he (Kanhaiya) comes out on bail, he is bound to impact the investigation and influence witnesses. He is also likely to indulge in activities that are violative of penal laws.

“That is why we have opposed grant of bail to Kanhaiya and shall oppose it further too,” Bassi added.

As soon as the hearing commenced at 10.30am, Justice Rani said, “Are you filing a status report? If you were aware, you should have done it.”

The bench said, “What about the status report? If you do not have the status report, I will not proceed. Ask your investigating officer to file the report.”

ASG Mehta, however, told the bench that they will file the status report in a sealed cover as “this is a pre-charge sheet bail and the status report cannot be shown to the accused.”

To this, the bench observed, “I do not need it in a sealed cover. You will have to file it. Issue notice. File the status report by tomorrow.”

The bench, however, clarified that the status report will be limited to the extent of bail only.

As the hearing commenced, senior standing counsel of Delhi government advocate Rahul Mehra opposed the appearance of ASGs Mehta and Sanjay Jain and lawyer Anil Soni, saying before appearing in the matter they should show notification in this regard.

“If they don’t have the same (notification), they cannot stand on their legs before this court,” Mehra told the bench.

Responding to this, Jain said, “Once ASGs are appearing in this matter, you have no business to interfere in it.”

At this stage, the bench intervened and said, “Let’s not fight over this issue. I will proceed only if status report is filed.”

The hearing, which lasted 10 minutes, witnessed unprecedented security arrangement in the high court premises in wake of the violence at the Patiala House Court on February 15 and 17 when unruly lawyers had assaulted Kanhaiya, scribes and litigants during the hearing in the case.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to consider a plea seeking contempt action against three lawyers allegedly caught on camera bragging and boasting that they had beaten up JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar in police lock-up for three hours at the Patiala House Court complex here.

“This allegation has been never made before us. This is a new allegation which has come up. You file an appropriate petition and we will consider it,” a bench comprising Justice J Chelameswar and Justice A M Sapre said after a plea for contempt action against these lawyers was mentioned before it.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan said the three lawyers who were allegedly involved in violence at Patiala House Court Complex on February 15 and 17 had conceded in a sting operation aired by some news channels that they had beaten up the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) President.