JNU row: Kanhaiya Kumar granted interim bail for six months by Delhi HC

JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar was on Wednesday granted six months interim bail by the Delhi High Court in the sedition case against him. Kanhaiya was asked to furnish a bail bond of Rs 10,000. The court directed the faculty members of the university to furnish the bail bond on Kanhaiya’s bond. Sources also told CNN-IBN that he was unlikely to leave Tihar jail on Wednesday. The student union head was in jail for two weeks. [caption id=“attachment_2653172” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Kanhaiya Kumar. PTI[/caption] “The court has recognised our concerns,” said Kanhaiya’s lawyer. Kanhaiya’s brother Manikant also reacted to this development and said, “I am very happy today.” On the other hand, the lawyer for Delhi Police said, “Today, the court gave interim bail to the accused subject to the outcome of the investigation. If something else turns up in the probe, we have to see the terms of the order and accordingly, the police will act.” Justice Pratibha Rani of the Delhi HC bench had on Monday reserved the order after over three hours of hearing on the bail plea of Kanhaiya who is accused of raising anti-India slogans inside JNU campus during an event organised on 9 February. During the hearing, while Kanhaiya’s counsel had argued that the student leader had never raised any slogans against the nation, Delhi Police had maintained that there was evidence that he and others were shouting anti-India slogans and were holding Afzal Guru’s posters. Police had claimed that Kanhaiya was “not cooperating” in the probe and even came out with “contradictory” statements in joint interrogation by Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Delhi Police. Defence lawyers including senior advocate Kapil Sibal had countered the allegations saying there were “some outsiders with covered faces who raised anti-India slogans and Kanhaiya was seen in CCTV footage asking them for their identity cards.” The bench had also asked tough questions to the police on slapping sedition charge on the accused and asked it to show evidence against him of his “active role” in raising anti-India slogans. Kanhaiya had also distanced himself from Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, the two other accused arrested in the case. During the hearing, the Delhi government’s counsel had urged the court to grant bail to Kanhaiya, who is currently in Tihar Jail under judicial custody. He was arrested on 12 February in the case which was registered under sections 124 A (sedition) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC. According to the police, a group of students had on 9 February held an event in the campus and allegedly shouted slogans against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Guru. (With inputs from PTI)