New Delhi: After an advocate, who filed plea to cancel six-month interim bail to JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar in a sedition case, objected to Justice Pratibha Rani’s remark that if she will dismiss his plea it would be with cost, the case now would be heard on Thursday by another bench.
Before the hearing of the cases could start, Justice Rani told the petitioners that if she will dismiss their petitions for bail cancellation, they should be ready to pay cost.
Advocate R.P. Luthra, appearing for petitioner, objected to the court’s remark, saying he “should not be threatened” as he has right to put forth his arguments.
“The judiciary can’t work like this. You can’t warn me. I am a citizen of India, I have right to say what I want to say. I want this case to be transferred to another bench,” Luthra said.
Justice Rani said she was not warning him and it was just a clarification that if she finds out that the plea is frivolous, she will dismiss it with cost. The court later transferred the matter to the Chief Justice that would be listed before another bench on Thursday.
There were two pleas which sought bail cancellation of Kanhaiya. The pleas said Kanhaiya has violated the conditions imposed on him by the Delhi High Court when it granted him interim bail on March 2.
Kanhaiya was booked and arrested on a charge of involvement in anti-national sloganeering on the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus on February 9.
While granting him bail on March 2, Justice Pratibha Rani said he will “not participate actively or passively in any activity which may be termed as anti-national”.
One of the pleas said that the speech and slogans raised by Kanhaiya and his associates were nothing but “challenging the sovereignty and integrity of the nation and, therefore, clear violation of the conditions of the interim bail as the same was nothing but the continuity of anti-national activities, lowering the reputation of the entire country and its citizens in the entire world”.
The petitioner said that Kanhaiya made derogatory remarks against the Indian Army after his release on March 3.
“Kanhaiya continued his anti-national activities on each and every day and it became unbearable when he alleged in public that the Indian armed forces rape women in Kashmir,” the plea said.
The petitioner said the court, while granting bail to Kanhaiya, had observed that the JNU faculty members would ensure that his thoughts and energy were channelled in a constructive manner, but “some of the faculty members indulged in anti-national activities with more force, resulting into shame and defame in the eyes of the entire world”.
The petitioner said that the various acts and omissions by and on behalf of Kanhaiya and his associates clearly demonstrate that the JNU student leader wilfully and deliberately violated the conditions imposed on him by this court and the undertaking given by him.
“Despite continuity of the anti-national activities by Kanhaiya… till date, the state has failed to approach this court (for bail cancellation),” the plea said.
The petitioner urged the court to cancel the interim bail to Kanhaiya at the earliest “to minimise future damage to the reputation of India and also to restore the faith of the citizenry”.