JNU student held on sedition charge bailed after free-speech protests

Supporters of Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) walk in front of a banner featuring Kanhaiya Kumar, a Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student union leader accused of sedition, during a protest demanding the release of Kumar in Kolkata, India, February 21, 2016.REUTERS/RUPAK DE CHOWDHURI

Wed Mar 2, 2016

The Delhi High Court granted bail on Wednesday to Kanhaiya Kumar, head of the student union at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University, arrested for alleged sedition in a case that led to mass protests and accusations the government is trying to stifle free speech.

Kumar, 28, was arrested last month at a rally to commemorate the anniversary of the execution of a Kashmiri separatist.

The court granted the student six months bail on a surety of 10,000 rupees ($150), defence lawyer Vrinda Grover said.

Kumar's detention -- under colonial-era laws once used by India's British rulers to jail nationalist heroes including Mahatma Gandhi -- exposed deep ideological differences over freedom of speech in India.

The case became a cause célèbre among opposition parties and free speech activists, who say India has become increasingly intolerant since Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government was elected two years ago.

Although Kumar attended a rally questioning the execution of the separatist convicted for an attack in parliament, his lawyers say he rejected the use of violence and he made no incendiary comments.

Instead, his supporters say he criticised a right-wing student fraternity and a Hindu-nationalist umbrella group to which Modi's ruling party belongs.

The police and government say the student's jailing was justified because witnesses said he made anti-national comments.

Kumar's last appearance in court last month led to chaotic scenes as lawyers and supporters of the ruling party assaulted students and journalists.

Some commentators and legal experts fault the government for exploiting the sedition law to silence its opponents, arguing it should instead have left college officials to manage what they say was no more than an exuberant student debate.

($1 = 67.5418 rupees)