Mumbai, Aug 13 A former student of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) has moved the Bombay High Court for pre-arrest bail in a case where alleged inflammatory slogans supporting jailed activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam were raised at an unauthorised campus event.
The former student, Kamakhya Das, filed the anticipatory bail application in the HC after a sessions court recently declined relief to him.
A bench of Justice Prafulla Khubalkar will hear the plea on Friday.
The slogans in support of Khalid and Imam, booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy matter, were allegedly raised at a gathering convened on the TISS campus in Mumbai's Deonar area to commemorate the first death anniversary of late Delhi University (DU) professor GN Saibaba.
As per the complaint lodged against Das and other TISS students, 10 to 12 pupils assembled without permission near a hostel to pay homage to Saibaba by lighting candles, reading poems, and raising inflammatory slogans in October 2025. Later, an FIR was filed against Das and others based on the complaint.
The accused were booked under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) relating to unlawful assembly and obstruction of authority, along with charges under the Maharashtra Police Act for violating prohibitory orders and police directions.
Das in his plea, however, claimed no student present at the event raised any objectionable slogans.
The sessions court, while rejecting Das' pre-arrest bail plea had noted books published by members of the banned outfit CPI (Maoist) were found on his devices, and that information was deleted.
The court had said custodial interrogation was necessary to ascertain Das' intent.
Das, in his plea, argued mere possession of such books was not a criminal offence.
Saibaba was accused of having ties with outlawed Maoist outfits and sentenced to life imprisonment by a sessions court in 2017. However, he was acquitted in the Naxalism-related case by the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court in October 2022.
The former DU professor died at a Hyderabad hospital on October 12, 2024.
