JNU Controversy:Sedition Charges Against Former DU Professor SAR Geelani, Arrest Made

After the arrest of Umar Khalid and Kanhaiya Kumar (Student's Union President), SAR Geelani, former Delhi University (DU) teacher has also been taken into custody on charges of sedition made against him as well. DCP (New Delhi) Jatin Narwal said that Geelani was arrested at around 3 am at the Parliament Street police station under IPC sections 124A (sedition), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 149 (unlawful assembly). Another senior official said that police had claimed that Geelani was booked as he is presumed to be the "main organiser" of the event and also that the request for booking a hall at the Press Club was done through his e-mail. The nature of the event was proposed to be a public meeting, which did not turn out to be so. On Monday night, Geelani was detained and questioned for several hours. He was a suspect in the 2001 Parliament attacks along with Afzal Guru, Shaukat Hussain and Navjot Sandhu. According to newspaper reports, a senior police officer said the case was registered after examining media clips of the event that was held at the Press Club on February 10.

JNU (Jawaharlal National University) teachers today joined the students in boycotting classes in protest against the arrest of its student union leader in a sedition case and said they would take classes on "nationalism" in the varsity lawns. Students of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, also expressed solidarity with the protesters and accused the government of harassing and threatening those who opposed its ideology. "Today it is JNU, tomorrow it could be any other university. Any voice of dissent being branded as anti-national is dangerous for any educational institution or community at large. No university should allow such indiscriminate raids on student hostels," a faculty of Ambedkar University said.

On Tuesday, some students organised an event at the Sabarmati Dhaba, against the execution of Afzal Guru and separatist leader Maqbool Bhat, and for Kashmir's right to self determination. Kanhaiya Kumar told the court that he has been framed in the case as he had defeated the ABVP candidate in the JNU presidential elections. He said that he was neither sloganeering nor saying anything against the integrity of the country and that he had rushed to the spot only to prevent a clash between ABVP workers and the students organising the event. Umar Khalid, the organiser of the event was arrested after the heated argument between concerned authorities and the group which organised the anti-nationalist event at the JNU campus. Slogans like ''Kitne Afzal Maaroge Ghar Ghar Se Afzal Niklega'' were also raised, after which the demand for those students to be rusticated was increased.