New Delhi, Mar 5 (Agencies): A leader of the BJP's youth wing has announced Rs. 5 lakh as "prize" for cutting off the tongue of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union president Kanhaiya Kumar who was arrested last month on charges of sedition.
Calling himself a "dutiful citizen", Kuldeep Varshney - Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha or BJYM's Badaun district chief - alleged that in his speech at the JNU campus after being released on bail on Thursday, Kanhaiya "insulted" the BJP, the RSS and Prime minister Narendra Modi and added that he announced the "prize" because he "could not tolerate" his comments.
"In his speech yesterday, he spoke against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the BJP and our Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji and also insulted our nation. Being a dutiful citizen, I could not tolerate this," he told reporters.
Kanhaiya was granted bail by the Delhi High Court on Wednesday, nearly three weeks after he was arrested on sedition charges for his alleged role in a February 9 event at JNU that marked the anniversary of the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, and in which anti-India slogans were raised.
Two more students, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, have been arrested on the same charges. The case has led to mass protests and opposition allegations that the government is trying to crush dissent.
Granting the student leader bail for six months with conditions, the court appeared to liken his alleged offence to "infection in a limb".
He has been asked to guarantee that he will not participate in any "anti-national activity" and that he will appear whenever required for investigations.