 "JNU students protest inside the university campus against the arrest of JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar, in New Delhi on Monday. PTI Photo by Kamal Singh")
Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar, in police custody on charges of sedition, was not responsible for organising the event marking Afzal Guru's death anniversary, according to report given to the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) by police.
The report says activists of lesser known Democratic Students Union (DSU), led by Umar Khalid, a student, raised anti-India slogans after they were denied permission to exhibit a pro-Afzal Guru documentary. Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, hanged on February 9, 2013, was allegedly eulogised on his death anniversary. Khalid, according to police, is absconding. The police, said sources, are also investigating Umar's links with terrorist outfits.
The high court on Tuesday dismissed a plea that sought to transfer the case from Delhi Police to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
The issue of Kanhaiya Kumar's arrest was raised at an all-party meeting as well. Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said leaders from opposition distanced themselves from slogans raised in JNU after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley gave details of the words used and banners displayed on the campus.
At JNU, the teachers also came out in support of the strike by students and decided not to hold classes until the release of Kanhaiya Kumar. The student leader will be produced in court after the end of his police custody on Wednesday.
According to inputs from security agencies to the MHA, Kanhaiya Kumar might not have raised anti-national slogans or made inflammatory speech at the event. Home Ministry officials have suggested that slapping of the serious charge of sedition against Kumar could be an act of "over enthusiasm" of some Delhi Police officers.
Officials said the "anti-India" slogans were raised by students belonging to DSU, considered to be a front of CPI (Maoists). Kanhaiya Kumar belongs to All India Students Federation (AISF), the students' wing of Communist Party of India, while DSU is an extreme left group.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to give an urgent hearing on Wednesday to a plea seeking action against those involved in thrashing journalists and JNU students and teachers in a city court complex.
Around 300 journalists marched from the Press Club of India in central Delhi to the Supreme Court to protest the attack on journalists. The journalists shouted slogans in support of freedom of expression and gave a memorandum to Chief Justice of India T S Thakur. They also gave a memorandum to Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
The News Broadcasters Association, an umbrella body of television channels, condemned the assault on journalists, especially on women. Association president Rajat Sharma said the "cowardly attack" was meant to intimidate journalists carrying out their duty of disseminating news and information, a service essential for democratic society.
In the Supreme Court, the petition filed by N D Jaiprakash, an alumnus of JNU, who was hurt in the violence at the courts on Monday, sought action against the people involved in the violence and over police "inaction". The petition was mentioned before a bench headed by the Chief Justice by senior advocate Indira Jaising. Two FIRs were registered on Monday night in connection with the attacks on journalists and JNU students and teachers.
The JNU protests received a shot in the arm with teachers' bodies of 40 central universities and Pune-based FTII coming out in support of the agitating students, saying it is an issue of "indiscipline" and not "sedition". Over 400 academicians from international varsities, including Columbia, Yale, Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford, SOAS, University of Toronto, McGill, King's College, University of California, Berkeley and New York University have also expressed solidarity with JNU students condemning the "illegal" detention and "autocratic" suspension of students.
Udit Raj, member of Parliament and BJP's Dalit face in Delhi, said JNU students were being asked to vacate their tenements in neighbouring localities. Raj, an alumnus of the institution, said it was a consequence of a "motivated" campaign to label the varsity as a den of "anti- nationals and traitors".
While Congress leader Digvijaya Singh termed the attack on journalists an act of fascism, the BJP demanded that Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi should apologise to the nation for supporting "anti-nationals".
In a related development, a court in Munger in Bihar ordered police to register a case against Kanhaiya Kumar and others for allegedly raising anti-India slogans.
