Kanhaiya Kumar bail plea: Delhi High Court reserves order, slams Delhi Police

The Delhi High Court today came down hard on Delhi Police while hearing the bail application of Kanhaiya Kumar, the JNUSU president who has been in custody on sedition charges. Justice Pratibha Rani reserved the order on the bail plea for March 2, and asked Delhi Police about Kanhaiya's active role during the protests.

The top developments during the court proceedings:

• "Do you have video evidence that Kanhaiya was raising anti-national slogans?" asked the court at which police denied of having any video in this regard. 
• "When your policemen were present there in the campus in civil dress why don't they take cognizance when anti-national slogans were raised? Why did not they video record it?" asked the court. 
• The Delhi police accepted that there was no video in which Kanhaiya Kumar could be seen raising anti-India slogans, however there are witnesses to his shouting slogans. 
• Delhi police also says independent video was made by someone in JNU by an iPhone 6 after chief security officer was asked to oversee the event. 
• The Delhi police also say that a JNU official has testified that Kanhaiya called upon cancellation of the programme and further said the programme will continue despite the cancellation of the permission. 
• Kapil Sibal, Kanhaiya Kumar's lawyer said that two groups can have different views, and that it does not amount to sedition. He further said JNU is not a public place, and the provision cannot be applied in a colonial manner. 
• Rahul Mehra appearing for Delhi government said that Kanhaiya cannot be held responsible for anti-India posters since he did not take permission for it. Neither the poster carries his name. He is innocent and no innocent should be punished. 
• Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta said that similar slogans were raised in Jadavpur University after JNU. If Kanhaiya is granted bail then such incidents will get a boost.

In another development, A Delhi court allowed the custodial interrogation of two Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, arrested in a sedition case, by one more day. According to people familiar with the matter, the anti-terror unit of Delhi Police-Special Cell-to which the case has been transferred, needed some time to interrogate both the accused.