JNU Row: Petitions against Kanhaiya Kumar’s bail referred to Chief Justice of Delhi HC, listed before Justice Suresh Kait

Justice Pratibha Rani on Wednesday referred the pleas for cancellation of interim bail of JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar, to the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court for allocating it before another Bench. The petitions have now been listed before Justice Suresh Kait.

The reference was made after an objection was raised by one of the petitioners, when they were warned by the Judge to be ready for the consequences of rejection of their pleas with cost.

Advocate R.P. Luthra objected to the warning, saying that the Court cannot “intimidate” them like this as “this is our right and it cannot be taken away”. Mr. Luthra was further quoted as saying, “If you (judge) want to conduct the proceedings like this then you can transfer it to some other court. You cannot say that you will dismiss the plea with cost before hearing it. You can transfer the matter to the Chief Justice.”

Justice Pratibha Rani clarified that she was not warning him, and that it was just a clarification that if she finds out that the plea is frivolous, she will dismiss it with cost.  These objections, Justice Pratibha Rani stated, would be taken on record before transferring the plea to the Chief Justice. An identical plea was made by another petitioner, Mr. Vineet Jindal. His counsel however said he has no such objection.

Mr. Umrao has filed another plea for initiating perjury proceedings against Kanhaiya alleging that he had “deliberately and willfully filed a false affidavit” before the court. All these petitions will be listed before the Bench headed by Chief Justice G. Rohini on Thursday.

Mr. Kumar was booked and arrested on charges of sedition during an event organized in JNU against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. While granting him bail, Justice Pratibha Rani had directed Mr. Kumar not to “participate actively or passively in any activity which may be termed as anti-national.” Mr. Kumar was directed to furnish bail bond of Rs. 10,000, with a faculty member to stand as surety for his release. You may read the LiveLaw article here.

The petitions before the Court contend that Mr. Kumar has violated the conditions which were levied while granting him bail. “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 reportedly stated.

The petition also condemns some faculty members for indulging in “anti-national activities with more force, resulting into shame and defame in the eyes of the entire world”. They have therefore demanded that Mr. Kumar’s bail be cancelled at the earliest.