Mumbai, Jan 20 Focus on career rather than getting embroiled in controversies, a court has advised students of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) who are facing a criminal case for allegedly attending an event marking the death anniversary of former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba.
Hearing their applications for pre-arrest bail, the sessions court on Monday extended the interim protection from arrest granted to them.
Trombay police in the city registered a case against nine TISS students in October 2025 for allegedly commemorating the death anniversary of G N Saibaba who had been acquitted in March 2024 in an alleged Maoist links case.
They were also accused of shouting slogans in support of former JNU students Sharjeel Imam and Umar Khalid who are currently behind bars in the Delhi riots case.
Charges under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections related to causing prejudice to the nation, causing enmity between various groups and unlawful assembly, among others, were pressed against the students.
Special prosecutor Shishir Hire said he had urged the court last time to direct the accused to be present in the court. On Monday, all the students appeared before the sessions court.
During the hearing, additional sessions judge Manoj B Oza addressed the students, saying they should focus on their studies and career instead of getting involved in such cases.
The court extended their interim protection from arrest till the next hearing on February 5.
Saibaba, who suffered from more than 90% disability and was wheelchair-bound, was incarcerated for a decade for alleged links with the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) before being acquitted by the Bombay High Court. He died on October 12, 2024.
