The apex court directed the matter to the Delhi High Court. It observed that hearing Kanhaiya’s bail plea directly would open the floodgates for such requests in the future. The court agreed that Kanhaiya’s bail hearing may not be possible at the Patiala House Court and that he may approach the HC.
The court also told the Centre and the Delhi Police to ensure the safety of Kanhaiya to which the government’s counselor agreed. In his bail petition, Kanhaiya said there is repeated breakdown of law and order at the Patiala House Courts despite directives of the apex court, making it impossible for him and his lawyers to approach the sessions court for bail.
After this Kanhaiya Kumar moved the Delhi High Court seeking bail. His lawyers Sushil Bajaj and Vrinda Grover, who were escorted by Delhi Police, directly went to the high court’s listing Registrar Loren Bamniyal and mentioned the petition behind closed doors. Soon after the apex court order, security in and around the high court was beefed up with the deployment of additional police personnel and CRPF jawans. The matter is yet to be listed before a bench of the high court for hearing. Kanhaiya, who is in judicial custody, had on Thursday approached the apex court directly, seeking bail on the ground that his life was under threat in Tihar Jail.
Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested on February 12 on sedition charge following a controversial event at JNU campus where anti-India slogans were allegedly raised. The student leader was produced in the court on Wednesday after the end of his police custody, where a group of men dressed in lawyers’ robes unleashed a brazen attack on him and others, including journalists present there. Kanhaiya had sought the apex court’s intervention, saying no purpose would be served by keeping him in the jail and the police was finding it difficult to even produce him in the court.