JNU row: Umar Khalid, Anirban's bail plea reserved till Mar. 18

A Delhi Court on Wednesday reserved its order on the bail plea of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya for March 18.

During the hearing, the Delhi Police counsel opposed the bail plea of the duo and stated that they did not only depend on the video footage but also relied on the statements of 10 independent witness against both of them.

However, the counsel of the two JNU students maintained the Delhi Government's report suggested that the video was tampered with while asserting that citizens have the right to criticise the government and the same can't be termed as sedition.

Earlier, a high-level internal committee of the JNU had found 21 students guilty of holding a controversial event on the campus last month, which had led to the custody of JNU students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar and others.

The committee has reportedly suggested that Kanhaiya, along with four other students, be rusticated from the varsity.

Kanhaiya, however, said yesterday that there was no mention of rustication in the report submitted by the panel.

The committee, in its unanimous report submitted to Vice-Chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar, has accused the students of violating university norms and rules by organising an event in the memory of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

The office of JNU's chief proctor would take further action by issuing show cause notices to the concerned students, including Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya.

Earlier last week, the varsity had revoked the suspension of eight students after the high-level probe panel submitted its report on the February 9 incident.