IANS/PTI/Agencies
NEW DELHI, MARCH 3
Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar was released from Tihar jail Thursday evening after a Court here ordered his release. Kanhaiya, who has been charged with sedition for allegedly raising anti-India slogan on February 9 on JNU campus, was granted bail on Wednesday by the Delhi High Court.
His release came after he furnished a bail bond in the sedition case at a makeshift court in the police station. Sources said that he furnished a personal bond of Rs 10,000 and one surety of the like amount as directed by the High Court. A faculty member of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Professor SN Malakar, stood surety for him.
According to the sources, the magistrate accepted his bail bond and ordered his release from jail.
Kanhaiya was arrested on February 12 by Delhi Police, leading to widespread public outrage. After several days of police custody, Kanhaiya was sent to judicial custody and lodged in Tihar jail.
There were allegations and counter-allegations on whether he actually raised anti-India slogans, with incriminating videos emerging that were later proved to be doctored.
Two other JNU students have also been arrested in the case. These students, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, are now in judicial custody.
Clean Chit
Delhi government-appointed magisterial probe did not find any evidence of JNU leader Kanhaiya Kumar raising anti-India slogans at a controversial event in the university, allegations based on which he was slapped with sedition charges by Police, according to a report in a leading daily website.
According to the probe report, anti-national slogans were shouted at the campus and JNU administration has already identified “few faces” who were “clearly” heard raising them. The probe panel said their whereabouts must be found out and their role must be investigated.
The report said “nothing adverse” could be found against Kumar and that no witness or video was available to support allegations against the JNU students union president.
It said seven videos of the event on February 9 to protest Afzal Guru’s hanging were sent to a Hyderabad-based forensic lab and out of them, three were found to be doctored including one clipping of a news channel.
The probe headed by New Delhi district magistrate Sanjay Kumar said Umar Khalid was visible in many videos and that his support for Kashmir and Guru was known. He was the organizer of the event and his role should be further investigated, it said.
Festivity in Kanhaiya’s village
An earlier report by PTI from Begusarai said that the festivals of Holi and Diwali together came in advance to the native village of JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar in Bihar’s Begusarai with his family and villagers rejoicing the Delhi High Court order granting conditional bail to him yesterday.
“We got much relief from tension and anxiety for the first time since the arrest of my son Kanhaiya Kumar on charges of sedition,” Kanhaiya’s father Jaishankar Singh told PTI today.
After hearing the Court order last evening, kins of Kanhaiya celebrated Holi by rubbing gulal on the face of his father Jaishankar and mother Meena Devi.
Villagers also burst crackers over the good news, Kanhaiya’s younger brother Prince Kumar said.
People continued to pour in the house of Kumar in Masnadpur Tola of Bihat village within the limits of Barauni police station, some 30 km from the district headquarters, since last night to express happiness over the release of Kanhaiya.
The 61-year-old father of JNUSU president, who is confined to his home due to a paralytic stroke two years ago, said a few family members have gone to Delhi to be with Kanhaiya after his release.
Kanhaiya’s mother Meena Devi is an Anganwadi worker, earning Rs 4,000 a month and running the household.
After clearing MA from Nalanda Open University in Bihar, Kanhaiya had joined JNU in 2011 to pursue an M.Phil in International Studies and is now in the final year of his PhD.
