New Delhi: JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya - arrested on sedition charges - were released on interim bail for six months from Tihar jail on Friday morning.
They were released hours after a city court granted them bail on ground of parity with JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar’s bail few weeks ago. Kanhaiya, who was also charged with sedition, was released from Tihar Jail on March 3.
On February 23, both Umar and Anirban surrendered before police and they were later arrested in connection with the sedition charge.
They along with Kanhaiya were booked for allegedly shouting anti-national slogans at an event on February 9 in the university campus to protest the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
Granting bail to Umar and Anirban, the court observed that the "role attributed" to Kanhaiya does not appear to be different from the allegations levelled against these two accused.
The court also directed Umar and Anirban not to leave Delhi without its permission during the period of interim bail. They were also asked to be available before the investigating officer as and when required.
With the arrest of JNU students, all the Opposition parties had come down hard on the BJP-led NDA government accusing it of muffling free speech and trying to impose RSS-backed ideology.
(With inputs from PTI)
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