Patiala House Court Reserves Order on Bail Plea of Umar & Anirban

Order on the bail plea of JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya reserved for 18 March.

Umar Khalid, a PhD student at JNU and an activist arrested by the Delhi Police. (Photo: The Quint)

The Patiala House Court reserved its order on the bail plea of Jawaharlal Nehru University students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya for 18 March. The Delhi Police counsel opposed the bail plea of both students.

Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya have been booked on charges of sedition for raising alleged anti-national slogans on the campus. Both Khalid and Bhattacharya surrendered voluntarily.

The inquiry committee, constituted by JNU VC, to enquire into the 9 Feb incident has also extended the last date of responding (by students) – to the summons – to March 18.

The Delhi Police counsel said that the charges against Khalid and Bhattacharya were not made simply on the basis of the video footage shot during the event, but also on the basis of statements of ten independent witnesses.

Umar and Anirban’s counsel told the court that the event held on Afzal Guru’s death anniversary was not only attended by students but also outsiders and added that criticism of government cannot be termed as sedition.

Referring to the Delhi government’s report on the video footage, the counsel said the footage provided by the Delhi Police was tampered with.

Lawyer Yashpal Singh, who had led the attack in Patiala House Court during JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar’s hearing was present in court for Umar and Anirban’s bail plea hearing.