New Delhi: Amidst the controversy engulfing the Jawaharlal National University in the national capital, the JNU Students' Union president has been arrested on Friday. Police said that Kanhaiya Kumar was seen in a purported video of people raising anti-national slogans.
Kumar was picked up from the campus by two policemen in plain clothes. A police van is at the campus and raids are on in hostels.
Earlier in the day, the Centre stepped into the controversy and Home Minister Rajnath Singh directed the police to take action against those raising anti-national slogans.
"The government will not tolerate any anti-national activities in the country. I have instructed Delhi Police to take strongest possible action against those involved in the incident," said Singh on JNU campus row.
This came after Delhi Police registered a case of sedition in connection with an event at JNU against the hanging of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. The FIR was filed following complaints by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Maheish Girri and party's student wing ABVP.
The ABVP is, however, not satisfied with the arrest. "I believe that the arrest that has been made is not satisfactory. All the students that were involved in this, who had organised the event and raised slogans and who can be easily identified should also be arrested and charged with sedition. Most students here are nationalists but a few students are spoiling the institutions name and the image of Indian campuses, but all of us are not like this," said an ABVP activist.
Condemning the incident, the University Vice Chancellor said, "While the JNU community upholds the right to free debate on campus, the University strongly condemns the use of the University as a platform for activities that violate the Constitution and the laws of the land. A high-level enquiry committee has been constituted to investigate the matter and take appropriate action."
Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said an FIR under Section of 124-A of IPC (sedition) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) has been registered against unknown persons at Vasant Kunj (North) Police station and the video footage of the event was being examined for further action.
"Purported clippings of the event have been shown in media. Such things were happening in JNU. I am an Indian citizen so as soon I saw the footage, I lodged an FIR. I am hopeful that about the investigation," said Girri.
Meanwhile, Delhi University professor SAR Geelani has also been booked for sedition after addressing an event at the Press Club in Delhi, condemning Afzal Guru's hanging. He has been summoned to join the probe.
Marking the death anniversary of Guru, a group of students on Tuesday held an event on the campus and shouted slogans against government for hanging him, despite varsity administration having cancelled the permission following a complaint by ABVP members, who termed the activity as "anti-national".
The JNU administration has already instituted a "disciplinary" enquiry as to how the event took place despite withdrawal of permission and said it will wait for the probe report before taking any further action.
ABVP members had already filed a police complaint on Wednesday and submitted a purported video of the event showing the organsiers shouting slogans calling Guru a "martyr" and clashing with the protesters, to both police and the VC.
The controversy at JNU erupted earlier this week when some students had pasted posters across the campus inviting people to a protest march against "judicial killing of Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhatt" and in solidarity with "struggle of Kashmiri people for their democratic right to self determination" at varsity's Sabarmati dhaba.
Members of the ABVP objected to the event and wrote to the Vice Chancellor that such kind protest should not be held on campus of an educational institution, prompting the university administration to order cancellation of the march as they "feared" it might "disrupt" peace.
(With additional information from PTI)
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