Ten student groups support Kanhaiya, demand judicial probe

Ten student organisations owing allegiance to different political parties on Wednesday pledged support to JNUSU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, who was arrested on a sedition charge.

They also demanded a judicial probe into the issue and vowed to take their struggle across all central universities in the country.

Kanhaiya Kumar of the Communist Party of India-affiliated All India Students Federation (AISF) was arrested on February 12 after anti-India slogans were raised at a meeting held on the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus on February 9. He was on Wednesday sent in judicial custody till March 2 by a Delhi court.

"We want a judicial probe into the whole issue, including what happened on the JNU campus on February 9 as we don't trust the central government agencies. We will take this movement to every central university and fight till the time we get justice," All India Students Federation (AISF) general secretary Vishwajeet Kumar told the media here.

The other organisations which came out in support of the JNU students include the National Students Union of India (NSUI), All India Students Association (AISA), Students Federation of India (SFI), Student Front of Swaraj (SFS) and the student wings of the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Janata Dal-United.

"Representatives of these 10 student bodies will take out a protest march from Mandi House to parliament on Thursday and hold a public meeting on Saturday," SFI's Vikram Singh said.

Representatives of various teachers and non-teaching staff unions are also likely to participate.

"We will also join the students of Hyderabad University who will hold a march on February 23 to parliament to seek justice for Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula," Singh said.

"The government never gave us any opportunity to explain our side of the story. On the contrary, they are picking students from left organisations and framing them under false charges," Vishwajeet said.

"We condemn the anti-national slogans raised on the JNU campus and believe that the guilty should be strongly punished. At the same time, we also need to save the JNU that is under attack from right-wing fascist forces who are dubbing anybody and everybody opposed to their ideology as anti-national and anti-India," the student leader added.