TISS Student Moves Bombay HC for Pre-Arrest Bail in G N Saibaba Event Case
A former Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) student, Kamakhya Prasad Das, has moved the Bombay High Court seeking pre-arrest bail in connection with a campus memorial organized for former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba.
Das filed the plea through advocates Vijay Hiremath and Rishika Agarwal after the sessions court denied him relief while granting anticipatory bail to seven of the nine students accused in the case. Another accused student, Abhirup Paul, has already been arrested by the police.
In his petition, Das disputed allegations that students raised slogans demanding the release of jailed activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam during the October 12 memorial. The plea stated that the allegations were based on statements by unnamed students and maintained that only a peaceful commemorative event took place without speeches, aside from the reading of two poems written by Saibaba.
The plea further argued that even if such slogans had been raised, doing so does not constitute a criminal offence under Indian law. Addressing the allegation regarding the recovery of Maoist literature, Das stated that downloading reading material does not make him the author or establish membership in any banned organisation, asserting his constitutional right as a social sciences student to read across different ideologies.
Das also challenged the necessity of custodial interrogation, pointing out that he had already cooperated extensively with investigators. He noted that he was questioned twice by the Trombay police and three times by the Crime Branch, undergoing between 12 and 15 hours of questioning across five sessions over a span of 10 months.
The sessions court had earlier observed that holding a memorial for Saibaba—who was acquitted by the Bombay High Court prior to his death—was not illegal in itself, but ruled that additional allegations against Das and Paul warranted custodial interrogation. The court had granted relief to co-accused Yash Kaundilya after noting his cooperation and finding no incriminating material against him.
Filed on August 10, just three days after the sessions court rejected his initial application, Das's plea is scheduled to be heard on Friday.
