HC grants interim protection to former TISS student accused of shouting slogans supporting Umar Khalid
The Bombay High Court on Friday granted interim protection from arrest to a former Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) student in a case where he and others are accused of shouting inflammatory slogans supporting jailed activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam.
Kamakhya Prasad Das had moved the High Court after the sessions court refused to grant him anticipatory or pre-arrest bail.
Justice Prafulla S Khubalkar continued the interim protection granted by the sessions court till August 31, the next date of hearing, and asked him to join the probe on August 19 and 24.
It is alleged that Das and a few other students commemorated the first death anniversary of late Delhi University professor G N Saibaba on TISS campus without permission in October 2025, and slogans in support of Khalid and Imam -- arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy matter -- were raised at the event.
A case was registered against Das, Abhirup Paul and others under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections relating to unlawful assembly and obstruction of authority, along with charges under the Maharashtra Police Act for violating prohibitory orders and police directions. Paul was later arrested, and he is currently in judicial custody.
Das claimed in his plea that no student raised any objectionable slogan at the event.
Advocates Mihir Desai and Vijay Hiremath, his lawyers, submitted that his role was limited to participating in the event.
Younger people or Gen-Z can sometimes get "little hot-headed" and say things they may not understand, but past judgments showed they did not need to be arrested, advocate Desai submitted.
The sessions court, while rejecting Das's pre-arrest bail plea, had noted that books published by members of the banned outfit CPI (Maoist) were found on his devices.
