sedition

The Gujarat high court today granted bail to Patidar agitation spearhead Hardik Patel in two sedition cases on the condition that he will stay outside the state for six months.

The Delhi high court today stayed all disciplinary action, including rustication orders, against Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Student Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya and others, on the condition that they withdraw all current agitation.

A Hyderabad court today granted bail to 25 students and two faculty members of University of Hyderabad, arrested last week for ransacking the office of Vice Chancellor P Appa Rao and attacking police while protesting his return after two-month leave.

The 25th Metropolitan Magistrate’s court at Miyapur pronounced the orders on the bail pleas as the Telangana government choose not to oppose the petitions.

The court asked the accused to arrange surety of Rs 5,000 each and appear before Gachibowli police station every week till the final disposal of the case.

Earlier, the public prosecutor did not file a counter to the bail plea, paving the way for grant of the leave.

The students and faculty members, currently lodged in Cherlapally Jail, may be released late Monday evening or Tuesday.

A section of varsity students want the sacking and arrest of Appa Rao, holding him responsible for the suicide of Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula.

A Supreme Court bench comprising justices JS Khehar and C Nagappan today restrained the media from reporting the proceedings of the hearing of the SLP filed by the Patidar leader, Hardik Bharatbhai Patel against the dismissal of his bail petition by the Gujarat High Court and seeking quashing of FIR lodged against him.

The Supreme Court today transferred to the Delhi high court JNU Students' Union president Kanhaiya Kumar's petition seeking bail and security.

An apex court bench of Justice J Chelameswar and Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre, while transferring Kanhaiya's petition, asked the high court to hear it expeditiously.

The court also recorded the statement of Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar that the lawyers representing Kanhaiya Kumar before the high court and media personnel be provided with full security.

The court directed its secretary general to forthwith transfer Kanhaiya's writ petition and related papers to the high court.

Kanhaiya Kumar's lawyers are likely to mention it for an early hearing before the high court on Friday afternoon.

Not impossible that Delhi HC cannot hear the matter; SC not an appropriate forum and case is not at a right stage to hear the bail: SC

tweeted @CNN-IBN.

Senior counsel Soli Sorabjee, Raju Ramachandran, and advocate Vrinda Grover are all acting for Kumar. Read the petition here.

India’s 156-year-old, colonial-era sedition law - used against arrested Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union President Kanhaiya Kumar - has been discarded by the UK (where punishment once included chopping ears), Scotland, South Korea and Indonesia.

JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, arrested for sedition, on Thursday moved the Supreme Court for bail as students rallied in support across the country and the opposition took the row to President Pranab Mukherjee.

JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, arrested on sedition charges, was today sent to judicial custody till 2 March.

Metropolitan Magistrate Lovleen gave the ruling after Delhi Police said it did not need the president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) any more for interrogation.

Kanhaiya Kumar, from the CPI-affiliated All India Students Federation (AISF), was arrested on 12 February on charges of raising anti-India slogans during a meeting on Kashmir in the campus.

Former Delhi University (DU) professor SAR Geelani was arrested on Tuesday charged with sedition for allegedly organising an event at the Press Club of India (PCI) to mark the death anniversary of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, police said.

“Geelani has been arrested on charges of sedition and criminal conspiracy. He is being questioned at the Parliament Street Police station,” a police officer said.

The officer said that they detained Geelani on Monday evening.

“After a brief questioning, we arrested him today (Tuesday),” the officer said.

Police registered a First Information Report (FIR) on 10 February under sections dealing with sedition and criminal conspiracy over raising slogans by Kashmiri students in the Press Club of India premises the same day to protest Afzal Guru’s execution.

The FIR was filed on the basis of complaint made by the PCI

Four journalists, including one from IANS, and some JNU students were assaulted at a court here on Monday by a section of lawyers.

Advocate Pradeep Dwivedi, represented by advocate Anupam Dwivedi, has filed a criminal contempt and sedition complaints against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for allegedly using “defamatory and seditious” words against prime minister Narendra Modi, which would spread disharmony,reported Firstpost:

"On 15 December, 2015, the accused posted the remarks on his Twitter account which reads as, ‘Modi is a coward and a psychopath’. The remarks were made against the democratically elected Prime Minister of the largest democracy of the world,” it said.

The complainant alleged that Kejriwal had “intentionally” used defamatory words with a view to spreading a sense of “hatred and contempt” towards the prime minister.

They seek prosecution of Kejriwal from Delhi metropolitan magistrate Jagminder Singh, who posted the matter for 26 February clarification arguments.

A sedition case was filed against Bollywood actor-producer Aamir Khan and his wife Kiran Rao on Wednesday in a Bihar court based on his statement on increasing intolerance in the country.

Lawyer Sudhir Kumar Ojha filed the sedition case in the chief judicial magistrate court in Muzaffarpur district.

“I have filed a sedition case against Aamir Khan and his wife Kiran Rao over their statement that intolerance has increased in the country, as it created bad environment and has defamed the country,” Ojha said.

At an awards event in New Delhi on Monday, Aamir spoke of “growing despondency” in India for the last six to eight months.

He said: “When I sit at home and talk to Kiran, for the first time she said, ‘Should we move out of India?’ Now that’s a very disastrous and a big comment to make to me.”

His statement drew widespread criticism even as many defended him.

Ojha said the court has accepted his complaint for hearing later this week.

Meanwhile, Aamir on Wednesday clarified his stance on “intolerance”, saying he and his wife Kiran Rao love India and won’t leave the country.

He added: “Anyone implying the opposite has either not seen my interview or is deliberately trying to distort what I have said.”