The Delhi Police have opposed bail of ‘anti-pollution’ protestors who were arrested for glorifying Maoist Madhvi Hidma during a demonstration at Dehi’s India Gate.
On Saturday (29th November), the police told the court that they had found new video evidence that connected these students to a radical group linked with Naxalites. During the hearing at Patiala House Courts, DCP Devesh Mahla told Judicial Magistrate First Class Aridaman Singh Cheema that they have a video showing some of the accused attending a conference held by the Radical Students Union (RSU). This meeting took place in Hyderabad earlier this year, on 21st and 22nd February.
#WATCH | Delhi | Protestors arrested following yesterday's protest at the India Gate, taken from Patiala House Court. pic.twitter.com/7ydaCOdYtN
— ANI (@ANI) November 24, 2025
The police further claimed that they are finding more videos on social media that point to the students having links with the Naxalite movement. DCP Mahla argued that the police need to keep the accused in custody to question them about these new findings. He stated that if the students are released on bail now, they might try to influence witnesses, which would affect the investigation. The prosecution added that the inquiry is still in its early stages, and granting bail now would prevent the police from seeking custody later if even more evidence appears.
Addressing the core reason for the arrests, the prosecutor made it clear that the students were not detained for participating in an anti-pollution protest. Instead, the police are investigating them for raising slogans in support of the Naxalite leader Madvi Hidma. The prosecutor told the court that they still need to figure out who instructed the students to make posters and who directed them to shout slogans supporting the Maoist leader.
On the other side, the lawyers defending the students argued that keeping them in jail just to suit the investigation would ruin their studies and future careers. Advocate Abhinav Sekhri, representing an accused named Vishnu, said the police’s theory about a conspiracy does not make sense. He told the court that just because someone was carrying pepper spray, it does not prove there was a plan to attack the police. He insisted that no one conspired to do anything wrong.
The court has postponed the hearing on Monday, 1st December and asked the police to file reports explaining the specific role of each student in the case. This hearing comes just a day after the Delhi Police re-arrested eight students in another case linked to the same protest, only hours after they were granted bail. These students were sent to judicial custody for seven days.
While the protest started as a sit-in under the banner of the Delhi Coordination Committee for Clean Air, the police stated the gathering was not authorised and became aggressive when officials tried to clear the crowd.