NEW DELHI: Amid continuing political face-off over the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) sedition row, former Delhi University lecturer S A R Geelani was sent on two days in police custody on Tuesday for his role in staging an event at the Press Club here recently where anti-national slogans were allegedly raised.
In a related development, the police raided the hideouts of a “radicalised student” in JNU who was raising anti-national slogans to mark the hanging of Parliament terror attack accused Afzal Guru. Tuesday also saw a fracture in the JNU teaching community, with a group opposing the administration, and the others wanting to wait for the law to takes its course. The day also saw various rallies condemning Monday’s attack on journalists and students.
Geelani was arrested for allegedly making anti-India slogans at an event that took place on February 10. The prosecution in its remand application stated that Geelani needed to be interrogated and more people who were identified in the CCTV camera footage recovered by the police arrested. “Police investigation is an integral part of investigation to identify the people raising slogans and the accused has said that he can identify those who raised anti-India slogans. Since he (Geelani) was the convener of the meeting, therefore, the case of grant of police custody is made out,” the court said.
Meanwhile, around 180 teachers of JNU came in support of the action against the propagators of anti-national sloganeering on the campus, saying JNU was not an independent country. “National interest is first and foremost. Police did the right thing by entering the campus. We teach students to serve the nation, not to go against it,” said Anita Singh, Chairman of the Centre for Studies of Law and Governance, JNU.