Court told them that they will get no interim protection from arrest and they must follow the rules and either surrender or get arrested.
New Delhi: Two JNU students, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhttacharya, who were accused of sedition and had gone into hiding before surfacing on the varsity campus, surrendered before the Delhi Police at midnight.
The surrender came hours after the High Court refused to give them any interim protection from arrest until Wednesday when their plea comes up for hearing.
Umar and Anirban have been accused of organising an event on February 9 to mark the anniversary of the hanging of terrorist Afzal Guru, in which anti-India slogans were raised.
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Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested earlier this month for his alleged role in that event. He is in the Tihar Jail. His bail plea will also be heard by the high court on Wednesday. The two students, who were in hiding for the last ten days, had surfaced on the JNU campus in the dead of the night on Monday and challenged the police to arrest them. The police were, however, not allowed by the VC to enter the campus.
The students on Tuesday had requested the court that they be allowed to ‘surrender’ at a secret location. They cited the attack on their arrested comrade Kanhaiya Kumar, who was attacked last week when he was being taken to court for a bail hearing. The police, however, told the court that they would not be able to manage law and order at a location chosen by the students.
The court said: “You can’t use your whim and fancy. You have to follow the procedure – That is, either you surrender or get arrested. You have to be produced before a magistrate and he will decide whether you go into police custody or jail.” The court will now hear on Wednesday their plea.
