JNU Protest: Speeches Continue on Campus As Police Wait Outside
Watch this space for live updates from JNU.
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- The Vice Chancellor is meeting the JNU Teachers’ Association.
- JNU Teachers’ Associations says University must take steps to ensure that charges of criminal conspiracy and sedition against students are dropped.
- Delhi Police wait outside campus for Vice Chancellor Jagadeesh Kumar’s permission to enter.
- Supreme Court to hear the plea seeking contempt action against Kanhaiya Kumar and SAR Geelani today.
- Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad blames the media for making a “hero” of JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar.
‘Tonight, Something Might Happen’
BBC journalist Jey Sushil posted on Facebook about some chatter on campus.
His post, in Hindi, translates to this.
‘There is Proper Evidence Against the One Who is Arrested:’ BS Bassi
Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi has assured that the police has ‘proper evidence’ against the ‘one who is arrested’ and that in future, arrests will be made only after a proper probe.
JNUTA Demands Registrar Be Removed From Office
Goverment to Discuss JNU on 24 February
During the all party meet, the government agreed to the Opposition’s suggestion that a discussion to be held on the incidents in JNU on February 24.
The JNU Vice Chancellor, Jagadeesh Kumar, is currently meeting the JNU Teachers’ Association.
SC Requested Not to Make Observations on Kanhaiya Kumar Sedition Case
The Solicitor General has requested the Supreme Court not to make any observation on Kanhaiya Kumar sedition case which may prejudice proceedings pending before High Court.
Next Hearing on Patiala House Court Violence on March 10
The Supreme Court has directed all concerned parties to share the reports on the incidents of violence at Patiala House court among themselves. The next hearing is scheduled for 10 March.
Watch: Students Charged With Sedition Speak to The Quint
Drop Charges Against Students: JNUTA
The JNUTA has said that the University must take steps to ensure that criminal charges of criminal conspiracy and sedition against the accused students are dropped. They added that the police ought not to be allowed on campus and that a conducive atmosphere should be created for students to appear before the inquiry committee.
Raise Issues According to the Rules: Venkaiah Naidu
Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu appealed to the people to “debate, discuss and decide,” but not to “disrupt.”
Meeting at Police HQ
A meeting between the Special Commissioner of Police (Law and Order), the DCP and the Joint CP is underway at the Delhi Police headquarters. The JNU issue is also being discussed.
Police Wait for JNU VC’s Permission
Police will not enter JNU premises and pick up students without the Vice Chancellor’s permission, say sources to CNN-IBN. The police are waiting outside the university campus to arrest them.
JNU Students Charged With Sedition
Three students who have been charged been sedition have spoken to The Quint about the situation at hand and the charges against them.
Ashutosh Kumar
Rama Naga
Anant Prakash Narayan
CID Team at JNU
The Delhi police CID team has just arrived on campus. They are likely to arrest the five accused students Umar Khaled, Anant Prakash Narayan, Ashutosh Kumar, Rama Naga and Anirban Bhattacharya, today.
Plea Seeking Contempt Action
The Supreme Court will hear the plea seeking contempt action against Kanhaiya Kumar and SAR Geelani today. The plea says the accused distrubuted pamphlets claiming Afzal Guru’s death as a judicial killing.
Delhi High Court to Hear Bail Plea Tomorrow
CNN-IBN reports that Kanhaiya Kumar’s bail plea will be heard by the Delhi High Court tomorrow.
‘We Will Not Surrender But Police Can Come Arrest Us’
The JNU administration has called a meeting of top varsity officials today to discuss the return of five students named in the sedition case.
Delhi Police officials have been placed outside the varisty campus since last night. Following reports that the students had returned back to campus, police said they will talk to the Vice Chancellor after the meeting and ask for the students to surrender.
JNU Registrar Bhoopender Zutshi said he came to know about the presence of the students on the campus from media reports. He added that he’s not heard from any of them so far.
The students had said “they will not surrender but police can come and arrest them”
Ashutosh Kumar, who is among the six named in the sedition case, had said that the students were in Delhi and that the decision to return on Sunday evening had been taken individually and not collectively.
Vice Chancellor Meeting
JNU Vice Chancellor Jagdesh Kumar has said that the entry for police as well as media persons has been barred for now and a call in this regard will be taken later today. The administration has maintained that there is no information on their presence on the campus.
Police officials are waiting on the VC’s nod to arrest the accused.
India Today reports that VC Kumar is to hold a meeting with JNU functionaries at 9 am.
Sedition Charges
Umar Khaled and four other JNU students who have been slapped with sedition charges, returned to the JNU campus on Sunday night. They have been asked to surrender to the Delhi police, but have refused so far.
Some media reports however suggest that Khaled and the other students are likely to surrender to the Delhi Police by 10 am.
The five people who returned to campus after being on the run after being named in the case, are:
- Umar Khaled
- Anant Prakash Narayan
- Ashutosh Kumar
- Rama Naga
- Anirban Bhattacharya
The five students returned to be a part of a protest held on the campus against the suicide of Hyderabad Central University scholar Rohith Vemula on 17 January, according to CNN-IBN.
Also read: The Anatomy of Rohith Vemula’s Suicide
Along with Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) vice president Kanhaiya Kumar, several other students were booked for sedition for an event held on the campus on the third death anniversary of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front co-founder Maqbool Bhat on 9 February 2016.
Union Minister Blames Media For Making Kanhaiya a “Hero”
Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad has blamed the media for making a “hero” out of JNU students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar.
He added that the pro-Afzal Guru slogans are an insult to the judiciary as he was a key conspirator in 2001 Parliament attack.
He also stated that the media has made a “hero” out of a person who was present when pro-Afzal Guru slogans were raised, effectively bringing “the entire judicial system to disrepute”.
NHRC Report Contradicts Police
A report by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has said that the attack on JNU students’ union president in Patiala House Court was pre-planned.
The report also adds that the appeal written in Hindi which was circulated by the Delhi police, was not written by Kanhaiya Kumar.
Kanhaiya’s parents in Begusarai have, however, refused the protection offered to them by the Bihar government.
“Fear Mob Lynching More Than Police”
After being named in the sedition case, the students who had been laying low have said that they feared being lynched by a mob more than the police. They have even said that they are ready to surrender to the police.
Umar Khaled, named by media houses as an anti-national, said in front of the admin block of JNU, on Sunday evening:
He has condemned the media trial against him as reports of him being a part of a terrorist group started making rounds.
The five students have said they would surrender themselves if police came to arrest them from the campus.
JNU Uprising
The university students have risen in protest after Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested. The students were joined by thousands of people in protest on Wednesday, 18 February against the government crackdown on the university.
Also read: Students’ Protest Gains Momentum but Will Justice Prevail?
The protesters have gained support internationally after students from Harvard university, American University of Beirut, South African students’ union, and a Pakistani students’ union joined expressed solidarity with them.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, play-wright Girish Karnad, Hyderabad University, Aligarh University, Delhi University, IIT Bombay, FTII, and various colleges from across the country have joined the JNU protests.
They have, however, faced opposition from ABVP, the student body of BJP, for being “anti-national”. However, the members of ABVP have also started quitting the organisation due to their stance.
Also read: JNU Row: Cracks in ABVP? Three Members Quit Over Differences
A report by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had said that the JNU students’ union president was subjected to psychological torture. Kanhaiya Kumar has been remanded to judicial custody till 2 March and is in Tihar jail.
Also read: JNUSU VC Calls For Another Solidarity March on Saturday
His bail plea will be heard on Tuesday, 23 February. The Supreme Court refused to hear his bail plea on Friday saying the matter had to go to an appropriate court. His bail plea was then registered in Delhi High Court.
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