Delhi HC reserves order on plea to cancel Kanhaiya Kumar's bail
The petitioners have sought cancellation of the student leader's bail on the ground that his speech post release was 'anti-national'.
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday reserved its order on the plea by private individuals for cancellation of interim bail granted to JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar in a sedition case with Delhi Police facing its ire for not taking an unequivocal stand and leaving it to the judge to take a decision.
However, after it was pulled up by Justice PS Teji who made hard hitting remarks like "Why are you playing with the court" and "police has made a mockerey of the system," Delhi Police said it was not in favour of cancellation of the student leader's bail.
Realising that the judge, who also warned the police for "playing hide-and-seek with the court," was not impressed with the arguments, the senior standing counsel for the Delhi Government, Rahul Mehra, said, "We (Delhi police) are not seeking cancellation of Kanhaiya's bail".
Justice Teji took strong objection to the response of Delhi police that sequence of events has been placed before it and the court may be pleased to form appropriate opinion with regard to cancellation of the bail of the accused.
"I do not want you (police) to play hide-and-seek with the court. From last three dates (in the high court) you are not clear whether you want his (Kanhaiya) bail to be cancelled or not. The reply you filed is very funny which states that the court will decide (on its own) the bail cancellation issue," the judge said.
Going through the police report which cited speeches and interviews given by the JNUSU President after his release in March this year, the court asked, "How it was relevant to the investigation of the case?"
"Why are you playing with the court?" the judge asked the police and said it should take a specific stand whether it wants Kanhaiya's bail to be cancelled or not.
The petitioners -- Prashant Kumar Umrao and Vineet Jindal -- who have sought cancellation of the student leader's bail on the ground that his speech post release was "anti-national" and violated the bail conditions, argued that the accused"continued his anti-national activities on each and every day" as he made allegations in public that the Indian Armed Forces rape women in Kashmir.
Kanhaiya, who was granted interim bail on March 2 by the high court, is facing sedition charge in connection with an event at JNU on February 9 where anti-national slogans were allegedly raised and Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru was hailed as a 'martyr'.