‘Slogans’ for Umar Khalid, Mao books on laptop: Why 2 TISS students were denied anticipatory bail

Khalid and Imam, former JNU students, have been in custody since 2020 in connection with the Northeast Delhi riots conspiracy case under the UAPA. The Supreme Court has rejected their bail pleas.

The police FIR has charged the students, aged 21-30, with offences including promoting enmity between religious, caste or community groups, making statements prejudicial to national integration, and unlawful assembly. The students denied these charges, arguing there is no evidence to support such grave allegations.

Additional Sessions Judge V B Bohra said, “No doubt G N Saibaba came to be acquitted of charges levelled against him and, therefore, act of paying homage to him by accused persons cannot be termed as illegal. However, the act of accused persons appeared to be not limited to paying him homage. They even allegedly raised slogans in the nature of releasing Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam from jail, who are facing trial for an offence under UAPA i.e. unlawful activities against the Nation.”

“In other words, such slogans were not made in a public agitation or procession. The Hon’ble Apex Court had been pleased to reject bail applications of Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam. Being students, it was expected from accused persons to respect the Law of Land,” the judge said while rejecting the pleas of the two students.

The two TISS students denied raising any slogans or making speeches in their pleas, stating they were booked based on “false narratives” spread on social media. The pleas noted that while the TISS administration claimed other students had reported the slogans to the management, there was no evidence on record to support the allegation.

The court granted anticipatory bail to seven students as it found the only allegation against them was participation in the Saibaba gathering on October 12, 2025, and no incriminating material was found in their possession. Two of them faced additional allegations of reciting a poem written by Saibaba, but the court noted they had cooperated with the probe and had no criminal antecedents.

The Trombay police filed an FIR naming nine persons, and the case was later transferred to the Mumbai Police Crime Branch.

According to the complaint filed by the TISS associate dean, around 10-12 students gathered between 7.30 pm and 8.30 pm on October 12, 2025, at the Deonar campus without permission to pay homage to Saibaba. The gathering included placing Saibaba’s photographs on a tree and reading his poems.

Saibaba, a former Delhi University professor, was convicted in 2017 on allegations of being a Maoist but was acquitted by the Bombay High Court in 2024. Wheelchair-bound due to a 90 per cent disability caused by polio, he spent nearly a decade in jail before his acquittal and died seven months after his release.

Special Public Prosecutor Shishir Hirey, opposing the students’ pleas, submitted that Saibaba was an active member of the banned CPI (Maoist) and that an appeal against his acquittal was pending before the Supreme Court. The prosecution also argued that “objectionable material” had been recovered from the laptops and mobile phones of the two students.

According to the prosecution, the devices contained downloaded books including Selected Works of Mao Zedong, The Right of Nations to Self-Determination by Vladimir Lenin, Caste and Revolution by N Ravi, Fractured Freedom by Kobad Ghandy, and publications of the CPI (Maoist). The prosecution also said that certain information had been deleted from the devices.

The court noted this material, along with the allegations regarding the slogans, while considering the anticipatory bail pleas.

Lawyer Vijay Hiremath, appearing for the students, submitted that they were well-meaning students who had attended the gathering after hearing about it at a tea stall near the campus “in regard to the need for advocacy of disability rights”, and to acknowledge Saibaba’s 10 years in jail. He said the poems read out promoted peace, equality and harmony.

He said permission from the institute for the gathering had not been sought because it was a spontaneous gathering and not a large-scale event and, therefore, could not be termed an unlawful assembly. He also submitted that a similar gathering had been held in 2024.

Hiremath said that the downloaded books did not establish any affiliation to Maoist ideology and were freely available for purchase.

“No doubt, mere downloading the books published by the Maoist organisation would not amount to an offence. However, the books though not banned by the Government, but reportedly instigating or aiding the division of India…” the court said, adding that it showed they were allegedly inspired by the thinking or ideology of Maoists, and that the gathering was part of action to implement the same on other students.

“…though the accused have not committed a criminal offence, their act coupled with the material found… raises doubt about their conduct,” the court said.

In January, the previous presiding officer, who had partly heard the pleas before being transferred, had reprimanded the students, warning that the case against them could adversely affect their future employment prospects.