Pleas for cancellation of bail to Kanhaiya referred to High Court CJ

At the outset, Justice Pratibha Rani, who had granted conditional interim bail to Kanhaiya on March 3, inquired about the presence of petitioners in the courtroom and told them to be ready for the consequence of rejection of their pleas with cost. 

“Be ready. If I will dismiss the pleas, I might dismiss it with cost. That is why I asked if the petitioners are here or not,” the judge said. However, advocate R P Luthra, who appeared for petitioner Prashant Kumar Umrao, objected to it, saying the court cannot “intimidate” them like this as “this is our right and it cannot be taken away”. 

“If you (judge) want to conduct the proceedings like this then you can transfer it to some other court. You cannot say that you will dismiss the plea with cost before hearing it. You can transfer the matter to the Chief Justice,” Luthra said. 

The judge said Luthra’s submission would be taken on record before transferring the petitions to the Chief Justice. “Let the petitions be transferred before the Chief Justice on Thursday for listing it before another bench,” Justice Pratibha Rani said. 

Besides seeking cancellation of interim bail, Umrao has moved another plea for initiation of perjury proceedings against Kanhaiya alleging that he had “deliberately and wilfully filed a false affidavit” before the court while securing the relief. 

A Delhi court on Wednesday reserved for March 18 its order on JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya’s bail pleas in a sedition case which were opposed by the police on the ground that allegations were grave as they were the main organisers of the campus event.