Students agitating for the release of JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar on the JNU campus in New Delhi, Tuesday. PTI photo
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New Delhi: Two JNU students accused of sedition, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhttacharya, were Tuesday asked by the Delhi High Court to surrender and were not given any protection from arrest even as the Delhi Police Commissioner warned the five accused students that all options are open to act against them, if they fail to cooperate.
While refusing to grant protection from arrest, the court asked both petitioners to give details of the date, place and time where they will surrender, to the court and that senior police officials will ensure their safety. The HC will Wednesday hear the plea of the two students, who are accused in a sedition case along with JNU student union president Kanhaiya Kumar, seeking protection during their surrender to the police. As the legal battle intensified, a plea seeking immediate arrest of the five JNU students accused of raising anti-national slogans came up before the high court which dismissed it after the petitioner sought to withdraw it due to convert it into a criminal public interest litigation.
Justice Manmohan said, “You withdraw this plea and file a fresh writ petition. I am not going to change the nomenclature of this petition.” Earlier in the day, the division bench had agreed to urgently hear the plea which also sought direction to JNU to allow police to enter its premises to arrest the five students – Umar Khalid, Anant Prakash Narayan, Ashutosh Kumar, Rama Naga and Anirban Bhattacharya.
Kamini Jaiswal, appearing for Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, sought protection from their arrest till Wednesday 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.” Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi, who is under attack over lawyers thrashing scribes, students and teachers in Patiala House courts, said his force will not “shy away” from using its options if the five JNU students, who surfaced after being in hiding for 10 days, fail to cooperate with the police.
