A Delhi court on Sunday directed the immediate release of 14 students from Jawaharlal Nehru University who were arrested on Thursday after they tried to march to the Union Ministry of Education, PTI reported.
The students had planned the march to demand the resignation of Vice Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit for her remarks that they alleged were casteiest.
More than 50 students had reportedly been detained.
The 14 arrested students had been granted bail by a magistrate court on Friday. However, the court had said that they should be released only after their permanent addresses are verified, reported Bar and Bench.
It claimed that many of the students had concealed or misstated their identities, and had not nominated any family members or friends to be informed about their arrests.
On Sunday, Duty Magistrate Ravi of the Patiala House Court was hearing a petition moved by the students against the magistrate court order, The Indian Express reported.
Ravi noted that if outstation verification was allowed to dictate continued incarceration without outer limits or alternate safeguards, the grant of bail may effectively become illusory, Bar and Bench reported.
The judge said that once the court had reached a “considered conclusion that the accused deserves bail on merits, the verification of their addresses and surety bonds, though important, is essentially a step to secure the efficacy of the bail order and to ensure future presence and compliance with conditions”.
He added that this was “procedural in nature and cannot be allowed to operate in such a manner that the accused continue to remain in custody for an unduly long period for reasons not attributable to them…”
The judge modified the bail conditions in the Friday order and directed that the students be released, saying that the verification of their addresses would not operate as a precondition for their release.
On Thursday, the students were seeking Pandit’s resignation for saying in an interview to The Sunday Guardian that progress for Dalits was not possible “by being permanently a victim of playing the victim card”.
The protesters also questioned the rustication of five JNU students’ union office-bearers earlier this month for allegedly damaging surveillance equipment at the Ambedkar Library. The demonstrators further demanded that a Rohith Act, or a central law named after University of Hyderabad PhD scholar Rohith Vemula, to prevent caste-based discrimination on campuses.
During the march on February 23, clashes took place between the protesting students and the police. While the police alleged that they were assaulted by the demonstrators, the students accused the authorities of using excessive force against them, PTI reported.
The students alleged that several of them were injured because of excessive force used against them.
The police filed a first information report under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to voluntarily obstructing a public servant, voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from performing their duty and assault or use of criminal force to prevent a public servant from carrying out official work.
Among those arrested were three office bearers of the JNU Students Association – President Aditi Mishra, Vice President Gopika and Joint Secretary Danis – and a former union president, Nitish Kumar.
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