What Arrested JNU Students Told Police During Questioning

New Delhi: In their overnight questioning by the police, JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya were reportedly confronted with 28 inflammatory slogans allegedly raised during a controversial event they have been accused of organizing.

The students reportedly told the police that it was outsiders who raised anti-India slogans at the event held on February 9 to mark the anniversary of the execution of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. They were reportedly shown pictures of the slogan-shouters but haven't identified them.

Umar Khalid and Anirban, accused of sedition, surrendered at midnight on Tuesday, hours after the High Court refused to protect them from arrest. The police drove around for almost two hours to avoid the media before taking the students to the police station.

Sources say the students were questioned for five hours before their arrest.

They have reportedly told the police that there was no external source of funding for the Afzal Guru event and that posters were made in the computer lab of the university.

Police sources claim Umar Khalid said he conceived the idea of the Afzal Guru event while Anirban Bhattacharya prepared the publicity material and distributed it.

Mr Khalid has also said he never tried to solicit the support of students from other universities.

The two students had gone to the High Court yesterday requesting that they be allowed to surrender at a secret location. They referenced the attack on their comrade Kanhaiya Kumar by lawyers when he was being taken to court for a bail hearing last week.

The court denied their request, but told the police today: "Ensure there is no error while producing Umar Khalid and Anirban before the magistrate." The court said that the students' lawyers and the police should prepare strategy together for the hearing.

For their safety, a magistrate may come to the police station so that they can be produced before him.