Mumbai: A former student of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) has moved the Bombay high court seeking pre-arrest bail in a case where he allegedly raised inflammatory slogans for the release of jailed UAPA accused activists Umar Khaled and Sharjeel Imam at an unauthorised campus event.On Aug 7, bail. was refused to Kamakhya Das (23). On Thursday, Justice Prafulla Khubalkar, before whom Das’s bail application was mentioned by advocate Vijay Hiremath, posted it for hearing on Friday.The event on Oct 10, 2025, was to commemorate the first death anniversary of late Delhi University professor G N Saibaba. The Oct 13, 2025, FIR alleged that 10-12 students assembled without permission, lighting candles, reading poems and raising inflammatory slogans. The sessions court observed that paying homage to Saibaba, who was acquitted by the high court in an UAPA case, was not illegal. It granted bail to seven students except Das and another one.In his bail application, Das denied “certain” slogans were raised. He said as the complaint was based on “untrue events”, grave allegations and charges such as unlawful assembly and promotion of enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and such are not made out at all.The sessions judge noted that books published by CPI (Maoist) were found on Das’s phone and certain information was deleted. Das’s application said “mere possession of such ideology is not a criminal offence’.’ He said the assumption that he attempted to implement Maoist ideology on other TISS students is “complete bogus”.He said having downloaded certain literature does not make him its author nor it indicates a prima facie case affiliation with a banned organisation or being prone to its ideology. As the police claimed Das did not cooperate with them, the sessions judge said his custodial interrogation was necessary. Das said he fully cooperated with the investigation, undergoing 12 to 15 hours of questioning over 10 months.
