JNU row: Kejriwal to meet Rajnath as BJP blames Congress for varsity unrest

Students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who has been charged with sedition, will remain in custody till Wednesday.

As tension soars in Delhi's Jawahar Lal Nehru University (JNU), Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will meet Home Minister Rajnath Singh to discuss the issue among other things. Journalists too have sought an appointment with the Home Minister over the scuffle that broke out outside the Patiala House court where JNU students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar was to be produced.

Kumar, who has been arrested and charged with sedition for allegedly raising anti-India slogans, will remain in custody till Wednesday, a judge said.

Kumar was arrested on Friday allegedly for raising anti-India slogans at an event organised by students on the JNU campus to commemorate the death of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, who was executed in 2013.

He was sent to three-day police custody after the Delhi Police told the court that they wanted to probe his alleged links to 'terrorist groups'.

Kumar was arrested on charges of criminal conspiracy and sedition under sections 124A and 120B of the Indian Penal Code.

Hitting out at the Opposition, especially the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday said that the Jawaharlal Nehru University turmoil shouldn't be seen in terms of political preference.

-"I don't think this is a political matter as some political parties are forcing it to be. A matter of security of the country and sovereignty has to unite each one of us. It can't be seen only in terms of our preferences and our political preferences,-" BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli told ANI.

-"We must allow the police and the investigating agencies to do their job. Anyone who finds something that is objectionable or crosses the parameters of reasonable restrictions of freedom of speech and expression has to be investigated... especially if it is contravention of any law of the land,-" he added.

Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court will today hear the plea seeking a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the sedition case against Jawaharlal Nehru University Student Union president Kanhaiya Kumar.

It has also sought a judicial inquiry in the entire case, soon after a group of men in lawyers' robes were seen thrashing students and journalists in the nearby Patiala House court complex yesterday.

The petition alleged that Delhi Police was not investigating the case properly and the matter should be transferred to the NIA. The bench yesterday posted the matter for hearing today.

It also observed that the Delhi Police was already conducting a probe and would take the case to its logical conclusion.