Cops object to Kanhaiya bail

Bassi cites change in circumstances; BSF ‘guards’ JNU; HC hearing today

The Centre on Tuesday rushed a Border Security Force contingent to stand guard outside the gates of JNU as the university’s teachers and students pressed their demand to drop sedition charges against arrested students union chief Kanhiya Kumar and five others who recently surfaced at the campus.

While all eyes on Wednesday will be on the Delhi High Court where Mr Kumar’s bail plea will be heard, the High Court told the other students to follow procedures of surrender or arrest.

The Delhi police, meanwhile, made a U-turn from its earlier stand of not opposing Mr Kumar’s bail, saying this was due to a “change in circumstances”. Delhi police commissioner B.S. Bassi had earlier claimed the police would not oppose bail for Kanhaiya as “a young man like him should be given another chance”. But on Tuesday he justified his backtracking, saying: “The circumstances when I had said so... those have totally changed.” He also said the police will not “shy away” from using all its options if the five JNU students who resurfaced at the campus failed to cooperate with investigators.

The BSF was made to stand guard outside the campus gate. The police felt it lacked adequate forces as it also had to handle another major protest near Jantar Mantar. The JNU authorities, meanwhile, said the demands from teachers and students that Mr Kumar be released and that sedition charges be dropped against him and five others were matters beyond its control.