The Delhi High Court today fixed for March 23 the hearing on the pleas seeking cancellation of interim bail granted to JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar in a sedition case.
"The petitions have been received on transfer. Renotify for March 23," Justice Suresh Kait said.
However, when the judge fixed the hearing on next date, advocate R P Luthra, who appeared for one of the petitioners seeking cancellation of interim bail as well as initiation of perjury proceedings against Kanhaiya, told the bench that it was an urgent matter and it should be heard on March 21.
"My request is that since it is a sensitive and urgent matter, it should be heard on Monday (March 21)," Luthra said, adding that the country's reputation is at stake.
The bench declined his oral request saying, "The police is there and they are taking care of it."
Luthra, who appeared for petitioner Prashant Kumar Umrao, insisted that the matter be heard on Monday, saying due to the speeches given by Kanhaiya after his release on interim bail, "the damage is being multiplied".
Yesterday, the matter came up for hearing before Justice Pratibha Rani who referred it to the Chief Justice for allocating it before an appropriate bench after Luthra had objected to the warning that petitioners may have to bear the cost on dismissal of their pleas.
The plea filed by Umrao alleged that Kanhaiya had "deliberately and wilfully filed a false affidavit" before the court while securing the interim bail.
Another petitioner, Vineet Jindal also sought cancellation of Kanhaiya's bail on the ground that his speech subsequent to his release was "anti-national" and thus he violated the bail conditions.
Earlier, the high court had refused to entertain a plea seeking action against Kanhaiya for allegedly making anti- national remarks in his speech, saying there is law and order in place for handling instances where anti-national slogans are being raised and the petitioner need not worry about the image of the nation.
Kanhaiya, who was granted six months interim bail on March 2, 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 hailed as a 'martyr'.
The High Court had on August 11 declined the plea of two
private individuals to cancel Kanhaiya's interim bail, saying nothing has been brought before it to show that the student leader had made any anti-national speech after his release.
It had earlier pulled up the police for not taking a unequivocal stand on whether it wanted cancellation of Kanhaiya's interim bail.
The police had submitted in high court that the JNUSU leader failed to adhere to "letter and spirit" of the bail order by making derogatory remarks against Army in Kashmir and he "misused his liberty".
Kanhaiya was arrested on February 12 on sedition charges in connection with an event on the campus on February 8 where anti-national slogans were allegedly raised.
While laying down the conditions for Kanhaiya's release on interim bail, the high court had said he would not leave the country without the permission of the trial court.
It had also taken strong exception to the manner in which slogans were raised and protests staged by students carrying photographs and posters of Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhat, mastermind of hijacking of a passenger airline to Lahore in 1971 who was hanged in 1984, on the campus.
"The reason behind anti-national views in the mind of students who raised slogans on death anniversiry of Afzal Guru, who was convicted for attack on our Parliament, which led to this situation have not only to be found by them but remedial steps are also required to be taken in this regard by those managing the affiars of the JNU so that there is no recurrence of such incident," the high court judge had said.
