New Delhi, Feb 23: In a complete U-turn, police today opposed in the Delhi High Court the bail plea of JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar, arrested in a sedition case, in which the court has asked for a status report by tomorrow.
When the matter came up for hearing as directed by the Supreme Court last week, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta, appearing for the police, told Justice Pratibha Rani that they were opposing the bail plea of Kanhaiya, who was arrested 11 days ago.
Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi, who had last week said that police would not object if Kanhaiya applied for bail, today justified the change in their stand saying that the circumstances have changed.
"The circumstances when I had said so, those have totally changed," he said.
Bassi said Kanhaiya showed repentance on his part when he issued an appeal on the day he was produced before a court but later denied having issued any such appeal and made certain allegations which were "false".
"We have reasonable apprehension that if he (Kanhaiya) comes out on bail, he is bound to impact the investigation and influence witnesses. He is also likely to indulge in activities that are violative of penal laws.
"That is why we have opposed grant of bail to Kanhaiya and shall oppose it further too," Bassi added.
As soon as the hearing commenced at 10.30 AM, Justice Rani said, "Are you filing a status report? If you were aware, you should have done it."
The bench said, "What about the status report? If you do not have the status report, I will not proceed. Ask your investigating officer to file the report."
ASG Mehta, however, told the bench that they will file the status report in a sealed cover as "this is a pre-charge sheet bail and the status report cannot be shown to the accused."
To this, the bench observed, "I do not need it in a sealed cover. You will have to file it. Issue notice. File the status report by tomorrow."
The bench, however, clarified that the status report will be limited to the extent of bail only.
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