JNU students union president arrested on sedition charges

New Delhi: Delhi police on Friday arrested Jawaharlal Nehru Students’ Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar in connection with a case of sedition and criminal conspiracy for allegedly holding an event at the institute against hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

The case was registered on Friday under Section of 124 A (sedition) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC against unknown persons at Vasant Kunj (North) police station following complaints by BJP MP Maheish Girri and ABVP. “Kanhaiya Kumar has been arrested in connection with the case,” a senior police official told ET. Delhi police commissioner B S Bassi told reporters, “We have arrested a person, also got his police remand.”

While he was being taken to the police station, Kumar told reporters, “This is false. I did not raise any slogan. They don’t have any evidence against me.” General Secretary of his organisation — the Communist Party of India-backed All India Students Federation (AISF) — Vishwajit Kumar, told ET that the former had “nothing to do with the arrangement of the event.”

When asked if Kanhaiya Kumar had indeed organised the event, as the Delhi Police believes, he said, “That’s not true. He had no role in organising it. We have condemned those slogans.” On Friday, two policemen in plain clothes came to the JNU campus and picked up Kumar for questioning. He was arrested subsequently, sources said. A group of students on Tuesday held an event on the JNU campus and allegedly shouted slogans against the hanging of Parliament.

attack convict Afzal Guru in 2013. At least a dozen students had been detained till evening and police was questioning them to find out about the organisers of the event. Soon after the arrest of Kumar, Union minister Kiren Rijiju said the government will not allow anyone to spread anti-national sentiment in the country. “It is not acceptable if someone raises anti--India slogans in the country.

We will not allow anti-national sentiment to spread,” he said. The arrest prompted strong reactions from left parties and JNU teachers’ association.

The AISF, in its official statement, condemned both the slogans of pro-Afzal Guru Protestors as well as the arrest. “Arrest is a threat to JNU and Indian Democracy. We demand the arrest of unknown masked people who raised those slogans,” it said.

The teachers’ union emphasised that it has always stood “for upholding constitution and is opposed to any unconstitutional activity in campus or outside”.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist), in its official statement, said: “An isolated incident, which does not reflect the opinion of the vast majority of the students, is now being blatantly used as an excuse to clamp down on the progressive and democratic student movement.”