The three Kashmiri students from KLE Institute of Technology, who were arrested for saying Pakistan Zindabad, were denied bail on Monday. The 5th Additional Session Court on Monday dismissed the bail petition filed by the lawyers of the three students.
Speaking to TNM, lawyers representing the Kashmiri students said that judge K Gangadhar denied bail and the bail order is awaited.
The Hubballi Rural Police arrested the three Kashmiri students and booked them for sedition on February 15 after a video of them went viral.
Members of the Bajrang Dal entered the KLE Institute of Technology on February 15 and demanded that the college management expel them. They lodged a complaint with the police over the viral video where the three students were seen singing a Pakistan army-made song. In the video, the students can be seen shouting “Azadi”, “Pakistan” and “Zindabad” as part of the song’s chorus.
The very same day, the Hubballi Bar Association had passed a resolution that its members would not represent the students. Twenty-four lawyers in Bengaluru challenged the resolution in the Karnataka High Court. On February 20, the Karnataka High Court reprimanded the Hubballi Bar Association and stated that its resolution went against the principles of natural justice and rights of the accused of obtaining a defence.
Despite the court’s order the Dharwad Bar Association members had heckled and manhandled the lawyers representing the accused in the Principal District Session Court in Dharwad on February 24. This was after the Karnataka High Court hd ordered the Dharwad Police to provide protection to the delegation of lawyers who went to Dharwad to file the vakalatnama (a document submitted to court attesting that said lawyer(s) would be representing the accused in a case) and the bail application.
The resolution had to be withdrawn after the Karnataka High Court rapped the Hubballi and Dharwad lawyers again and rebuked them for carrying out a “mini-trial” all by themselves instead of relying on courts. Chief Justice of Karnataka Abhay Sreenivas Oka had called it a disgrace to the legal community and said that the resolution went against the Constitution and professional ethics
Finally on February 27, the bail plea was filed amid heavy police protection. The court in Hubballi had on March 2 extended the judicial custody of the three accused till March 7 as the police had said that the safety of the three students was in danger. Up on hearing the arguments, the bail was denied.