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Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, arrested on on sedition charges, on Thursday moved the Supreme Court for bail which it will hear on Friday.
His bail petition was mentioned before a bench of justices J Chelameswar and A M Sapre by senior advocate Soli J Sorabjee and Raju Ramachandran who wanted it to be heard on Thursday itself.
However, when the bench suggested that they would consider it for Friday, they agreed.
Kumar said in his petition that there was no need for his custodial interrogation as he has already been sent to judicial custody.
In the petition, filed through advocate Anindita Pujari, the accused claimed his innocence and said no purpose would be served by keeping him in the jail as the police have been finding it difficult to produce him even in the court.
Kumar has submitted that there is a threat to his life and there was a need for the apex court to intervene for safeguarding his life and limb.
Meanwhile, security has been tightened at Kanhaiya’s house in his village in Bihar in view of a likely threat to his family.
“Policemen in plain clothes have been deployed near his house to provide security to his family,” a district police official said.
Kanhaiya’s father Jaishankar Singh and his mother Meena Devi, live in Bihat village in Begusarai district, considered a stronghold of the Left in Bihar.
His parents are poor. His father Jaishankar is partially paralysed, while his mother is an anganwadi worker and earns Rs 3,000 per month.
Security was tightened at his house following a directive from the Bihar police headquarters. The district police was asked to deploy security forces at his house.
The JNUSU president, who has been booked for sedition in connection with an event at the university where anti-national slogans were allegedly raised last week, was arrested by the Delhi police on February 12. He was remanded to judicial custody till March 2.
-- With inputs from M I Khan