Police opposes bail to JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar

In a fresh twist to the JNU controversy, the Delhi police on Tuesday opposed the bail plea of JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar, arrested in a sedition case, in the Delhi high court. Mr Kumar’s bail plea along with the other pleas of two JNU students seeking protection to surrender will be heard in the high court on Wednesday.

The court directed the Delhi police to file the status report in the overall case and not just matter pertaining to the bail. As soon as the hearing commenced at 10.30 am, Justice Pratibha Rani, the presiding judge, asked the police, “Are you filing a status report If you were aware, you should have done it. What about the status report If you do not have the status report, I will not proceed. Ask your investigating officer to file the report.”

When the matter came up for hearing as directed by the Supreme Court last week, additional solicitor-general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Delhi police, told Justice Rani that they were opposed to the bail plea of Mr Kumar, who was arrested 11 days ago.

Contrary to his earlier stand of not opposing Mr Kumar’s bail plea, Delhi police chief B.S. Bassi said: “The circumstances when I had said so, those have totally changed. (Mr Kumar) showed repentance on his part when he issued an appeal on the day he was produced before a court, but later denied having issued any such appeal and made certain allegations which were false.”

“We have reasonable apprehension that if he (Mr Kumar) comes out on bail, he is bound to impact the investigation and influence witnesses. He is also likely to indulge in activities that are violative of penal laws. That is why we have opposed grant of bail to (Mr Kumar) and shall oppose it further too,” Mr Bassi added.

He had earlier asserted that the police will not oppose Mr Kumar’s bail, maintaining that a young man like him should be given another chance.

During the first few minutes of the hearing, additional solicitor-general Tushar Mehta, however, told the bench that they will file the status report in a sealed cover as “this is a pre-chargesheet bail and the status report cannot be shown to the accused.”