JNU students' union leader Kanhaiya Kumar released from jail

JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested last month by Delhi police on charges of sedition after "anti-India" slogans were allegedly raised at the university during a protest meeting in memory of Afzal Guru, hanged in 2013 after his conviction in the Parliament attack case.

The Delhi High Court today reserved its judgment in the bail petition of JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar.

Kanhaiya was being represented a group of high-profile lawyers led by Kapil Sibal.

The police had been claiming for weeks that they had irrefutable evidence of Kanhaiya Kumar raising anti-India slogans but failed to provide this to the court.

Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested on February 12 on the charge of sedition. Khalid and his peer Anirban Bhattacharya, who are also charged with sedition, are now in judicial custody at Tihar Jail till March 15.

Police said that all witnesses identified Kanhaiya, said he was leading the procession and "participating" in anti-national slogan shouting.

A student activist at the NYU Sumathy Kumar said she attended the rally because she wants to show her support to the JNU students who were "beaten and arrested and so much violence was being committed against them just for speaking out".

The court said that his political ideology or affiliation has to be pursued within the framework of Indian Constitution as freedom of speech and expression is subject to reasonable restrictions under Article 19(2) of the Constitution.

According to the sources, the two doctored videos are of February 9 and February 11.

The Delhi police had submitted some of these videos, including the more "seditious" one obtained from Zee News, to argue against Kanhaiya's bail.

Jail officials said the papers for the release of the JNU student leader were received at around 5 pm.

"His name also doesn't appear on the poster about the topic of that event, contents of which were considered anti-national by JNU authorities".

The government had sent seven video clips for forensic testing to the Truth Lab in Hyderabad.

Justice Pratibha Rani also directed Kanhaiya to cooperate with the Delhi Police in the ongoing investigation as and when required by the Investigating Officer (IO). "We have to see who has financed it. There were people whose faces were covered", said the prosecution.

The students have been agitating demanding Kanhaiya's release alleging he has been "framed" for raising his voice and being "branded" as a terrorist.