• 24 Feb 2016
• Hindustan Times (Mumbai)
• Shradha Chettri and Soibam Rocky Singh letters@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: Jawaharlal Nehru University ( JNU) students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhatta charya, who were accused of sedition for shouting anti-India slogans on the campus, surrendered at South Campus RK Puram police station in south Delhi on Tuesday night.
The duo came out of the university’s administrative block around 11.30pm and walked towards the main gate surrounded by hundreds of students, who formed a human chain and chanted “Comrade Kanhaiya Lal Salam”. They got into a security van and they left the campus.
A leader of the ultra-Leftist Democratic Students Union (DSU), Banojyotsna Lahiri, said they return soon. “There is no need for anyone to be sad as the comrades will come back,” she said as DSU members stopped mediapersons from speaking to the Khalid and Bhattacharya.
The midnight drama followed after the Delhi high court refused to grant interim protection from arrest to Khalid and Bhattacharya, who had appealed for police security to surrender.
Besides, the court directed Delhi Police to file a status report on arrested JNU student union leader Kanhaiya Kumar’s bail plea by Wednesday, the next date of hearing. The court, which advised the accused students to follow the rule of law, will also hear pleas of Khalid and Bhattacharya.