Kanhaiya Kumar attacked at JNU by suspected outsider

New Delhi, Mar 10 : JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who is facing sedition charges, was allegedly attacked on campus today by a youth believed to be an outsider. According to students and teachers present there, the attacker called Kanhaiya for an interaction when he was attending the “nationalism” lecture at the varsity’s administration block. “Kanhaiya went to a corner to talk to him where the boy started abusing him and following the argument he slapped him.

Seeing this, many students and univesity’s security guards rushed to rescue him,” a student said. The varsity’s security got into action and took the accused to the nearest police station where he has been detained for questioning, a police official said, adding his identity is yet to be verified. Kanhaiya faces sedition charges in connection with an event on campus against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised.

He was granted interim bail for six months by the Delhi High Court last week after spending 18 days in jail. The students and teachers of the varsity had expressed apprehension about Kanhaiya’s security after he was attacked by a group of lawyers in Patiala Court premises on February 17. The Delhi police has asked the varsity authorities to intimate them about Kanhaiya’s movements outside the campus. A man who claimed to be the president of “Purvanchal Sena” had last week announced a reward of Rs 11 lakh for anyone who shoots Kanhaiya. He was later arrested.

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JNU celebrates Kanhaiya’s return to campus with ‘cautious optimism’

JNU is celebrating students union president Kanhaiya Kumar’s return from jail, but the celebration is marked by an awareness that their friends Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya are still imprisoned and the world perhaps views the university suspiciously.

“The mood in the campus is one of cautious optimism. It was a celebration when Kanhaiya was released, but the talk among my friends since then has been about the bail order and what it reflects, particularly since Umar and ban are still in jail. I have had conversations with friends wondering what we can do to make the common public outside the campus understand that we are not anti-nationals,” says Nivedita Kapoor, a PhD student.

For the moment, though, all talk on campus is centred around Kanhaiya’s fiery speech. Discussions in dhabas and tea stalls on Friday revolved around this, with students recounting the punch-lines Kanhaiya delivered.

“Even after coming out of jail, he took on the government, heads on. It takes guts to do that,” said an MPhil student from the Centre for Political Studies. “His speech raised the right issues and highlighted how the BJP government has failed to deliver any promises, especially where where he talked about how the BJP won people over with Har Har Modi and how the same people are now angry about ‘Arhar’.

As Kanhaiya stepped in to the administrative block also known as Freedom Square, students cheered and shouted slogans of ‘Lal Salam’. Everybody was keen to shake hands and congratulate their leader.

The press conference afterwards was a huge success too. A large number of students turned up to hear their leader. Some of them even wore a T-shirt with Kumar’s picture to express their solidarity.

“What a speech he gave, a new leader has emerged. We have to thank the BJP government for they have made our President even stronger,” said a Phd student who did not wish to be named.

Post all the action, the administrative block became more lively with new posters of ‘Stand with JNU’, messages to their jailed friends and cartoons made by students adorning the walls. Some students sat in groups and shouted ‘Lal Salam’ and ‘Azadi’ slogans.

Many students from Brahmaputra hostel, where Kanhaiya’s room is located, turned up at the block because he hadn’t yet visited the hostel. “We have not been able to meet him as he has not come back to the hostel. But we are looking forward to hear from him,” said Abhay Seth, who lives in Brahmaputra hostel.

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JNU movement will continue till the end of this govt: Kanhaiya Kumar

Student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, whose arrest on sedition charges sparked a debate over nationalism, attacked the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “anti-people” on Friday, saying the campus movement would continue till the ruling alliance was thrown out.

Speaking to HT on Friday night at the JNU campus, Kumar also made it clear that as a “leftist cadre”, he would remain engaged in politics and do what his organisation – the All India Student Federation – would ask him to do.

CPM leader Sitaram Yechury said the JNU student president would canvass for the Left in this year’s West Bengal polls.

Asked what was the goal of the students’ campaign and if it would end with the release of fellow students, Kumar said, “This movement is for rights and justice. You must see it as a part of a larger struggle — in FTII, the tolerance-intolerance debate, the Occupy UGC movement, what happened in Dadri, the Hyderabad episode and then JNU... the movement will continue till the end of this government. People will keep coming together.”

He said people — soldiers at the borders, farmers and students —were dying and it was his duty to expose the regime.

Did he agree -- in the light of the February 9 incident-- that fundamental rights and free speech come with restrictions? “Yes, I endorse that rights need to be coupled with duties. Restrictions are important but this is a grey area and it is precisely the area power centres seek to manipulate.”

He also said though his politics was different from that of Umar Khalid they were together on the need to fight this government. Khalid is in jail facing sedition charges and is also accused of organising the February 9 event during which alleged anti-India slogans were shouted.

Kumar was cautious on being asked if he saw the developments of the last three weeks as a turning point. “But people coming together against a government trying to impose one ideology, murder democracy and impose authoritarianism is a good thing.”

Indian left remained strong on the streets and on issues even if its electoral strength had diminished, he said, adding the two people he felt closest to and admired the most in recent times were Rohith Vemula and Govind Pansare.

His attraction for Left politics, he said, began with his reading of Hindi literature. “Literature makes you sensitive, your creative aspects get strengthened, you become aware and then you look for an alternative. And you get attracted to politics that speaks of equality, justice and end of exploitation.” If Left politics was about siding with the weak and powerless, he was and would remain a leftist.

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How BJP Student Wing Reacted To Kanhiya Kumar, Who Trended Worldwide

New Delhi:  Kanhiya Kumar's speech, delivered last night at the Jawaharlal Nehru University or JNU, where he pledged his commitment to fighting for "azaadi (freedom) not from, but in India" catalyzed him into a worldwide trend on Twitter.  The nearly one-hour -long address  was fiercely critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government.  Unsurprisingly, students from the ABVP, the youth wing of the ruling BJP, aren't impressed

Mr Kumar, President of the Left-affiliated JNU Students Union, was arrested on sedition charges last month, forging an international debate on whether  the government is using the charge of "anti-national" as a fig leaf for cracking down on dissent and free speech.

Mr Kumar has denied making anti-India remarks at a rally at JNU in February, after which he was arrested. Footage of Mr Kumar that was televised by some news channels has been declared doctored by a forensic lab that was asked to examine the video by the Delhi government.

"Nobody is anyone's enemy here, everybody sits together and has tea as we  discuss our ideologies, but if anyone is going to do sloganeering against our country we would react," said Saurabh Verma, General Secretary of the BJP's student wing at JNU. It was on the basis of an ABVP complaint that a BJP parliamentarian filed a police case last month, leading to the jailing of Mr Kumar after a controversial police raid on campus to find him. Two other students from JNU are still in prison. 

Mr Kumar, 28, has been given bail by the Delhi High Court with a list of conditions that include a commitment to not participating "actively or passively in any activity which may be termed anti-national". 

Mr Sharma  said that the Delhi government's inquiry, which clears  Mr Kumar of making inflammatory remarks, is not the last word on the case. "Kanhaiya  Kumar has got conditional bail; we believe in the workings of the court, we are waiting for the final result," he said.


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JNUSU prez Kanhaiya camouflaged in anti-riot gear to dodge lawyers

To transport JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar safely out of the Patiala House courts where he was assaulted by lawyers on February 17, the police disguised him in battle fatigues, a bullet-proof jacket and a helmet that made him look like a member of the anti-riot cell.

The same afternoon, Kanhaiya had been assaulted by lawyers amid huge police deployment when he was being escorted to the courtroom . After the assault, Kanhaiya was produced in court where he was remanded to 14-day judicial custody.

The February 17 assault happened despite police’s assurance to the higher courts that Kanhaiya’s safety would not be compromised. The police had assured that the February 15 incident wherein journalists, JNU students, and teachers were beaten up by a group of lawyers, would not be repeated.

The decision to dress Kanhaiya as a police personnel was taken after they learnt that at least 200 lawyers had assembled near the courtroom and at the exit gates to stop them from escorting him out of the court premises.

The second round of trouble began around 5 pm when the lawyers slogans that they would handle Kanhaiya in their own way.

An emergency meeting was called at the police headquarters. Senior officers agreed to disguise Kanhaiya as an officer of the anti-riot cell and mix him with other policemen dressed in similar gear.

Several sets of anti-riot gears were brought to the courtroom. Kanhaiya was convinced to put on the uniform along with a police helmet with face cover and a baton. 50 policemen dressed in a similar way gear to confuse the lawyers.

Kanhaiya left the premises unhurt with the policemen as the lawyers could not identify him. The roads connecting C-Hexagon of India Gate were shut when police took Kanhaiya out of Patiala House court to Tihar jail. The arrangements were in place till around 8.30 pm when Kahnaiya reached Tihar Jail. JNUSU prez Kanhaiya camouflaged in anti-riot gear to dodge lawyers.

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Cops question another JNU student

NEW DELHI: Another JNU student, Ashutosh, who the police was looking out for in connection with the sedition case, joined investigation today after receiving a police summon.

Ashutosh, who is JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar's predecessor, is one of the five students, including Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, who resurfaced in the varsity's campus on Sunday night.

Ashutosh received the summon yesterday night and produced himself today at RK Puram Police Station, where Khalid and Anirban are presently being interrogated, a police official said.

Other two students, Rama Naga and Anant Kumar, are yet to receive any police summon. They had earlier written to police that they are ready to join investigation too.

The five of them resurfaced at the campus on Sunday night and a day later, Khalid and Anirban surrendered before police.

The police was looking out for all five of them in connection with the sedition case which led to the arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar on February 12.

Yesterday, the police interrogated Kumar, Khalid and Anirban together for the first time.


With that, the police have identified around 22 persons who were active participants in the controversial February 9 event, police said, adding Ashutosh, Khalid, Anirban and few others are believed to be organisers of the event in which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised.

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Students, teachers from Yale, California come out in support of Kanhaiya Kumar, question 'sedition' charge

Over 400 academicians from international varsities, including Columbia, Yale, Harvard and Cambridge, have also come out in support of JNU students .

Coming out in support of JNU students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar, arrested in a sedition case, students and teachers of several international universities, including those from University of California and Yale, are narrating his "seditious" speech in English and uploading their videos online.

Eleanor Newbigin, University of London, says in a video, "I have never been a student of JNU but I have interacted with students from the university. I am narrating an excerpt from Kanhaiya's seditious speech. Some people are saying JNU runs on taxpayers money. Yes, it does. But I want to raise the question: what are universities for? Universities are there for critical analysis of the society's collective conscience. Critical analysis should be promoted. If universities fail in their duty, there would be no nation. If people are not part of a nation, it will turn into a grazing ground for the rich, for exploitation and looting," Newbigin says in the video quoting from Kanhaiya's speech.

Dora Zhang and Damon Young, University of California, Berkeley say in joint video, "We challenge the RSS's definition of justice. We say your vision of justice has no place in it for our vision of justice. We will believe in freedom and justice on that day when every person is freely able to exercise constitutional rights."

Asserting if Kanhaiya's speech was seditious, then all those narrating it should also be penalised, Greta LaFleur from Yale University continues with her narration from the transcript of Kanhaiya's speech. "Call us and hold a debate. We want to debate the concept of violence. We want to raise questions about the frenzied slogans, their slogan that they will do tilak with blood and aarti with bullets. Whose blood do they want to spill?

"They aligned with the British and fired bullets on the freedom fighters of this country. They fired bullets when poor people demanded bread; they fired bullets when people dying of hunger talked about their rights; they have fired bullets on Muslims; they have fired bullets on women when they demand equal right and they are now distributing certificates of patriotism," she says.

Over 400 academicians from international varsities, including Columbia, Yale, Harvard and Cambridge, have also come out in support of Jawaharlal Nehru University students agitating against a row over an event on the campus.

Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested on February 12 in a sedition case in connection with an event against hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru where anti-national slogans were allegedly raised. While the students and teachers supporting Kanhaiya have condemned raising of anti-national slogans, they claim the slogans were not raised by him and there was nothing seditious in his 26 minute speech rendered a day later.

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If Kashmiri secessionists think the JNU agitation has boosted their chance for independence, they're terribly wrong

The government’s inept handling of the situation in JNU has given a fillip to secessionists in Kashmir. A lot of Kashmiris, including some in leading positions, have got the impression that substantial support for Kashmir’s independence struggle has become apparent across India.

They think the upsurge of middle class opposition to the arrest of JNU Students Union President Kanhaiya Kumar actually signifies support for them. They have this impression since the entire imbroglio got going over a function to observe the anniversary of Afzal Guru’s hanging on 9 February – and several television channels have projected all backers of free speech as supporters of Guru.

In actual fact, a very large proportion of those who support the students’ agitation have focused on the political motivations behind the government’s approach to the issue. Its target was the entire 'Left-liberal’ 

intellectual class and the ethos of JNU, rather than any actual wrongdoing.

It is now obvious to even the most blinkered right-wing nationalists (except perhaps those with an implacable political mission) that Kanhaiya Kumar did not raise anti-India slogans. Those who had anything to do with what happened at JNU already knew it from the outset. I was able to establish it through a couple of telephone calls to students the day Kanhaiya was arrested. I was told that his role that day had been to try and make peace between the agitated ABVP group, the crowd of sloganeers, and the security men.

The Delhi Police nevertheless arrested him last Friday, and promptly charged him with that most politically loaded crime, sedition. This means one of two things: either they are thoroughly incompetent, and lacked information about what had actually happened at the University (the second is unlikely), or their actions were dictated by political considerations.

Perhaps it was a bit of both, but there is little doubt that some strategists in the government seized the opportunity to try and paint the 'Left', and indeed the entire gamut of liberal and intellectual opinion in India, as `anti-national.’ That muddied the waters.

Students across the country, and Indian students studying elsewhere, were flabbergasted. There was an upsurge of public support for the JNU community. Most of that community united to agitate for Kanhaiya’s release and against state repression.

One student (the daughter of an outstanding army officer) who attended the march in the heart of New Delhi on Thursday told me she had nothing to do with politics and only wanted to study. But now, deeply upset over Kanhaiya’s arrest, she wanted to understand political issues.

Very little of the pan-India support for JNU endorsed the anti-India slogans raised on 9 February. But apologists of the government and several media channels projected support for JNU as support for Guru. One channel ran two labels on either side of its screen. Clips of all those who spoke for the freedom of expression, the right to dissent, or against police raids on campuses were run under the `pro Afzal’ label.

By and large, this sort of media projection seemed acceptable only to the ruling establishment’s core nationalist support base – except in Kashmir. There, large numbers got the impression that a significant proportion of Indians now support freedom for Kashmir. This is a tragic denouement. The government will have a tough time dealing with the consequences.

On Friday, a week after Kanhaiya had been arrested, there were signs that the government had moved to plan B: Kanhaiya would be released on bail next week if they could arrest Omar Rashid, the leader of the Democratic Students Union, by then.

Meanwhile, with hope still alive that a PDP-BJP government might be formed in Jammu and Kashmir in March, it appears that the Kashmiris who actually raised the slogans will still not be touched. I refer to the two specific slogans that were constantly parroted by `nationalists’ in various stages of televised apoplexy, to target Kanhaiya, JNU, the `Left,’ liberals and other defenders of free speech as `anti-national.’

They finally took a break when it was revealed on Thursday that Kanhaiya had been framed with fudged audio on video footage of him. That is when Plan B seems to have come up: Omar Rashid is to be demonized instead of Kanhaiya. That already began the moment it became clear that the 'evidence’ against Kanhaiya had been doctored.

If this is indeed Plan B, it’s a bad one. It might turn out worse for the sort of future the conservatives backing it want than Plan A has been. It could turn Rashid into a youth icon for another wave of protests. In the bargain, it would bring the radical ideas that Rashid represents into public focus.

If this putative Plan B is handled as ham-handedly as has been the targeting of Kanhaiya and JNU, that might even give life to what is so far no more than a hope in Kashmir, that secession has support among many ordinary Indians.

Of course, the intelligence to make workable plans is not generally associated with the right wing of the human brain. But the government would be well advised to stop digging itself deeper and deeper into the mess it has made.

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JNU row: ABVP hit hard by Rohith Vemula and Kanhaiya Kumar incidents

Jawaharlal Nehru University was in the news about six months ago too, but for an altogether different reason. There was strong buzz of a Saffron surge in what was considered a Left bastion, thanks to the impressive performance of the RSS-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad in the student union elections.

But now ABVP appears to be on the back foot in the JNU campus where the majority student opinion seems to be in favour of Kanhaiya Kumar, the president of JNU students union who has been arrested on charges of sedition, even splitting the ABVP ranks on 'liberal' and 'hardline' camps. 

Explaining the ABVP's predicament, an office bearer of its JNU unit said, "Many new students joined us after the BJP came to power in the Centre, partly influenced by Narendra Modi and partly because they thought being in power we will be able to get additional funds released for constructing hostels — a major concern not resolved by the ruling left. Some also thought they will be able to get jobs as professors. However, today, the unit is riddled with differences— some are liberal, hardline—due to the way in which the government handled the Rohith Vemula and Kanhaiya Kumar episodes." 

Vemula, a Dalit student at Hyderabad Central University, had committed suicide last month purportedly over caste discrimination. It is this inability to sensitively handle the two issues that took away last year's momentum in ABVP's favour in JNU campus.

Similar arguments were given by three ABVP office bearers who resigned on Wednesday night. The joint statement mentions their inability to be "mouthpieces of a government which has unleashed oppression on the student community". 

According to the ABVP office bearer quoted earlier, resentment began to build after the "mishandling" of the Vemula episode and peaked after Kumar's arrest and what followed. 

"We had suggested having a Manusmriti burning event to answer all the left parties' allegations about us. But there were disagreements within. Some said it (Manusmriti) has both good and bad things, so we should we not burn it. In the current issue, the ShutDownJNU hashtag was also supported by the JNU unit (of ABVP)," he said. "How will we be able to counter the left on campus this way?" As politically unaffiliated third-year graduate student of Russian, Upasna Vashishtha said, "Nobody supports the anti-national slogans. But how does the ABVP not oppose Kanhaiya Kumar's arrest? There is no evidence against him. Also, because of this entire controversy, we are being called anti-nationals. My aunts called up to ask why I am studying in a university such as this." This is a strong adverse turn for the ABVP on campus. 

According to ABVP's JNU unit president Alok Singh, it had only around 25 active members in 2013, which increased to 40-50 in 2014, but in 2015, the number increased to more than 100. The ABVP won one of the four posts on the central panel of the students' union after 14 years, and came second in two. Before that, it had won a post in the central panel in 2000 when current BJP member Sandeep Mahapatra won the post of president. 

JNU students' union comprises a central panel of four elected members and each of the schools and centres has separate posts and polling. ABVP rarely wins the central panel, but has its own "vote bank" in schools teaching natural sciences where it wins some seats.

ABVP's attempt at mounting a campaign against "anti-national" elements on JNU campus — it released the February 9 event's videos to news channels — appears to have backfired with the opposition's 'Save JNU' campaign creating more buzz than ABVP's 'JNU for Nationalism' campaign. Kumar's arrest and violence inflicted on him and media persons by a mob, including a BJP MLA, at the Patiala House Court.

Speaking with ET, ABVP JNU unit president said, "The politics that happened in this matter has been a little wrong. I accept that. The debate was never about JNU versus ABVP nor should it ever be. It was about anti-nationalism on campus. But this campus has been Lalgarh (red bastion). We ABVP activists are (say) 50, but what those 500 (left activists) talk to students' matters.

They are spreading rumours. Since we brought up this issue, it has become a matter for their survival. So, everybody, students and teachers' unions, have ganged up against us." 

ABVP JNU secretary Lalit Pandey, however, said, "Those with a nationalist approach are still with us. Campus politics is fine. But our politics is for the nation and we are receiving support outside, across the country."

He regretted that the issue had changed from Afzal Guru event speeches to "Saving JNU" and Kanhaiya Kumar, but insisted that ABVP is for JNU since it organised three marches by the name of 'JNU for Nationalism'. 

The ABVP office bearer quoted earlier, though, strongly differed with Pandey. "The Parishad has tried hard to dominate the campus, but left control is still not easy to shake off. This time the organisation went too far, and entire country looks at the university as anti-national now. This has hit student perception about us seriously," he said. 

Rival unions are latching on to this. "At the recent march to Jantar Mantar, students who are not members of any unions were giving out red roses to ABVP joint secretary in JNUSU Saurabh Sharma saying, 'Don't spread hatred'," CPM-affiliated Students' Federation of India's JNU unit secretary G Suresh claimed. "Nearly 4, 000 students from JNU participated in the march. This shows the entire campus is against their campaign," he said. 

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JNU Case: Support For Arrested Student From Chomsky, Pamuk, 84 Others

Eminent academicians, scientists and writers from across the world, including Noam Chomsky and Orhan Pamuk, have recorded their condemnation of the arrest of a JNU student in a strongly-worded statement that says it is "evidence of the present government's deeply authoritarian nature, intolerant of any dissent".

A statement signed by 86 academicians from renowned universities also condemns "the culture of authoritarian menace that the present government in India has generated".

The statement says: "We have learnt of the shameful act of the Indian government which, invoking sedition laws formulated by India's colonial rulers, ordered the police to enter the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus and unlawfully arrest a student leader, Mr. Kanhaiya Kumar, on charges of inciting violence --without any proof whatever of such wrongdoing on his part."

Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested last week for allegedly shouting anti-India slogans during an event held on the campus on February 9 in support of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, who was hanged three years ago.

Mr Kumar has been charged with sedition, for which the maximum punishment is a life term. A report by the Delhi Police on the arrest credits "reliable sources", explaining sedition charges against the student.

Expressing solidarity with protesting JNU students and faculty, who have boycotted classes to press for Mr Kumar's release, the statement says: "Mr. Kumar, whose speech (widely available on a video) cannot in any way be connected with the slogans uttered on the previous day, was nonetheless arrested for 'anti-national' behaviour and for violating the sedition laws against the incitement to violence. Since there is no evidence to establish these charges, we can only conclude that this arrest is further evidence of the present government's deeply authoritarian nature, intolerant of any dissent, setting aside India's longstanding commitment to toleration and plurality of opinion, replicating the dark times of an oppressive colonial period and briefly of the Emergency in the mid-1970s. "

The action of the police had brought "great dishonor" to the government, the signatories assert, and urge "all those genuinely concerned about the future of India and Indian universities to protest in wide mobilization against it."

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Journalists and teachers join JNU protests, govt tries to douse fire

The government said it was willing to discuss in Parliament a police crackdown against a controversial meeting of Jawaharlal Nehru University students, but protests continued on Tuesday in a row that has also seen attack on journalists and teachers by right wing activists.

“The government is ready to walk the extra mile to ensure discussion in Parliament on all issues raised by the opposition,” said parliamentary affairs minister M Venkaiah Naidu after an all-party meeting ahead of the Budget session, during which opposition parties raised a host of issues including the protests at the Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Groups of students, journalists and teachers gathered for protests in Delhi on Tuesday after they were allegedly assaulted on Monday evening outside the Patiala House court hearing a sedition case against a JNU student.

Hundreds of JNU teachers went on strike to protest the arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar, the JNU Students’ Union president who was remanded in custody at a Monday hearing, which was marked by violent scuffles outside the court where fellow students and journalists had gathered to witness his appearance.

Journalists marched till Supreme Court to protest the attacks on them outside the Patiala House Court. They shouted slogans in support of freedom of expression and alleged the Delhi Police had failed to protect them on Monday. A delegation of journalists also met home minister Rajnath Singh.

The Supreme Court agreed to hear on Wednesday plea seeking action against those involved in the violence at Patiala House.

At JNU, teachers joined students in boycotting classes to press for Kumar’s release.

‘Kick them out’: HT journalist recounts mob attack in a Delhi court

“The teachers went on strike today. Some 500 teachers have gathered near the university’s administrative block with banners to show their solidarity with the students,” said Om Prasad of the All India Students Association (AISA).

“They are demanding the immediate release of Kanhaiya and withdrawal of all the cases,” he told AFP.

Academics at foreign universities extended support. “As teachers, students, and scholars across the world, we are watching with extreme concern the situation unfolding at JNU and refuse to remain silent as our colleagues (students, staff, and faculty) resist the illegal detention and autocratic suspension of students,” said a statement posted on a blog run by academics and signed by 455 scholars, many of them JNU alumni of Indian descent.

Outside the university, scores of people demanded the demanded the arrest of those who shouted anti-India slogans at an event on the campus last week. The protestors--said to belong to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal--also demanded the shutdown of what they said was “anti-national” administration of the varsity.

Carrying saffron flags and shouting slogans like ‘JNU prashasan bandh karo (Shut down JNU administration)’, the protestors said those who raised anti-India slogans at an event organised on February 9 to commemorate the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru should be arrested.

“Arrest those ant-national elements,” shouted one of the protestors as he tried to break through a barricade at the university entrance.

“Our protest is in favour of the nation,” he told IANS.

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JNU students union president arrested over Afzal Guru event in campus

Delhi Police had registered charges of sedition and criminal conspiracy against ‘unknown people’ after a fracas between student groups in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) earlier this week

JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested on Friday in connection with a case of sedition and criminal conspiracy over holding of an event at the prestigious institute against hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

The case was registered yesterday 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 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.

The event occurred despite varsity administration having cancelled the permission following a complaint by ABVP members, who termed the activity as “anti-national”.

The JNU administration has already instituted a “disciplinary” enquiry as to how the event took place despite withdrawal of permission and said it will wait for the probe report before taking any further action.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh warned of “strongest possible” action against those involved in the ‘anti-Indian’ sloganeering.

“If anyone raises anti-India slogans, tries to raise questions on country’s unity and integrity, they will not be spared. Stringent action will be taken against them,” he told reporters.

HRD Minister Smriti Irani also said “nation can never tolerate any insult to Mother India.”

“Be it JNU or any other institution, anti-India slogans can never be tolerated,” said MoS Home Kiren Rijiju to ANI.

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