New Delhi: Under severe attack for its handling of the JNU row, police was on Monday cautious in dealing with the five students accused of sedition who said they were ready to be arrested even as the university authorities were undecided on asking them to surrender before the law enforcing agency.
The students, however, said they will not surrender as charges against them were false, a day after they resurfaced at the campus. On his part, Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi asked the students to join investigations and prove their innocence.
A meeting of top JNU officials, chaired by Vice Chancellor Jagdesh Kumar, deliberated on return of the five students to the campus after being in hiding for 10 days but could not take a decision whether police should be allowed to enter the campus to arrest them or the students should be asked to surrender.
The five students -- Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya, JNUSU General Secretary Rama Naga, Ashutosh Kumar and Anant Prakash -- had gone missing from the campus since February 12 after JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested on sedition charges for allegedly raising anti-India slogans during a controversial event at the campus.
The Vice Chancellor also met a delegation of over 300 teachers from the varsity, who raised four demands including removal of officiating Registrar Bhupinder Zutshi, for allegedly mishandling the issue. While the students did not meet the Vice Chancellor, JNUSU submitted a memorandum to him, appealing to him to raise the matter with police and "get" the sedition charges dropped against them.
"The police has not issued any summons to us. We were in hiding because of the fear of being mob-lynched considering the way Kanhaiya was attacked in court. We are ready to be arrested but we will not surrender," Naga said.
Meanwhile, the university extended the tenure of the three-member committee enquiring the incident, till March 3. Its tenure was to come to an end on February 25. Earlier, Bassi met Lt Governor Najeeb Jung and briefed him about the JNU row.
"I would say if the police are looking for them then they should join the police investigation. And if they are innocent, they should present evidence of their innocence," Bassi said.
Police teams were rushed to campus last night following information that the five students were spotted at the varsity premises. However the cops kept waiting outside the main gate for the Vice Chancellor to give a go ahead for their entry into the campus.
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