Bombay High Court Grants Interim Protection to Former TISS Student
The Bombay High Court on Friday granted interim protection from arrest to Kamakhya Prasad Das, a former Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) student booked by the Mumbai Police for raising slogans demanding the release of Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam.
Justice Prafulla Khubalkar agreed to hear Das's anticipatory bail plea on August 31 and ordered that he be shielded from arrest until that date. The court noted that the matter required consideration and scheduled it for further hearing later this month.
The High Court's relief came after a lower sessions court had rejected Das's anticipatory bail application last week.
The Mumbai Police had registered a First Information Report (FIR) in October 2025 against Das and several other students for taking part in an event organized to pay homage to the late GN Saibaba. According to the police, participants at the gathering read out poems written by Saibaba and raised slogans calling for the release of Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, both of whom are facing trial under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Earlier, Additional Sessions Judge V.B. Bohra had denied anticipatory bail to Das and another student, 32-year-old Abhirup Paul, while granting anticipatory bail to five other students: Nikita Dsouza, Uttkarsh Khuntia, Yash Kaundilya, Avantika, and Ishpreet Kaur.
In their defense, the students argued that GN Saibaba had been acquitted in the UAPA case against him and maintained that chanting "Sharjeel ko rha karo, Umar ko rha karo" (Release Sharjeel, Release Umar) did not constitute a criminal offence.
However, the sessions judge observed that while paying homage to Saibaba was not illegal due to his acquittal, the students appeared to have crossed that line. The judge held that raising slogans to release individuals facing trial under the UAPA for alleged unlawful activities against the nation went beyond paying homage. The sessions court also noted that the event was not a public agitation or procession and observed that students were expected to respect the law of the land, especially when the Supreme Court had rejected the bail pleas of Khalid and Imam.
The case, titled Kamakhiya Prasad Das v/s State of Maharashtra, is scheduled for its next hearing before the High Court on August 31.
