Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar has told a Supreme Court-appointed lawyers’ probe panel that he was beaten up, pushed to the ground and injured by men in lawyers’ robes in front of police, when he was brought to the Patiala House Courts premises on February 17.
“When police brought me inside the court’s gate, a mob of men in lawyers’ robes attacked me. It appeared as if they were ready to attack and they were calling others also. I was assaulted. Police escorting me tried to save me but they were also beaten up. I complaint to police about being hit by the mob, but they didn’t do anything. I told the judge I have full faith in the Constitution. These are politically motivated persons”.
“Main is desh ka naujawan hoon, main JNU mein PhD kar raha hoon, log keh rahe hain ki main desh drohi hoon, kuch media mera trial kar rahi hai (I am a youth of this country, I am doing my PhD in JNU and people are calling me ‘anti-national’, a section of the media has put me on trial),” Kanhaiya said while narrating the sequence of events to the lawyers’ panel in a video shown on television channels on Saturday.
In a video filmed by Haren Rawal, one of the lawyers sent to the court, Kanhaiya said he was assaulted while being brought in for hearing. “I was punched, kicked, thrown to the ground,” he said. “A mob dressed like lawyers were waiting to attack me. I was brutally beaten up. Police, who were escorting me, were also thrashed.”
The panel of six advocates — Kapil Sibal, Rajeev Dhavan, Dushyant Dave, ADN Rao, Ajit Kumar Sinha and Haren Raval — had visited the Patiala House Courts premises on February 17 after the apex court was informed that Kanhaiya was beaten up during his production before the magistrate. In another instance when he was attacked, police, who were there, did not do anything, he said.
After Kanhaiya narrated the incident to the panel inside the courtroom, Sibal called DCP Jatin Narwal and enquired about it. “How did you allow the attack to take place inside court premisesIJ Your men were there. What were they doingIJ How he (man who attacked Kanhaiya outside the gate of the courtroom) was allowed insideIJ” the panel members asked the DCP.
Responding to it, Narwal said, “He came with the escort party and entered the room adjacent to the courtroom.” The panel members then called other police officials and asked them about the incident and they replied that the person who attacked Kanhaiya had claimed to be his lawyer. Kanhaiya told the panel that when he was assaulted, he fell down and sustained injuries and at that time he could not see what police was doing. To this, Sibal asked the DCP, “that means police were there and they did nothing.”
The student leader told the panel that the person, who had attacked him, had come to the adjacent courtroom and he had told his teacher about it. “I told my teacher that this man was assaulting me and then police asked that person about his identity. He in turn questioned the policeman and asked him to show his I-card. That person left the place in front of police and police did nothing. He could have been apprehended there itself. I had told police that this man had assaulted me,” he said.
On February 17, a bunch of rowdy lawyers had launched a brazen attack on Kanhaiya, journalists and others and also indulged in stone-pelting and hurling abuses on the panel of senior lawyers. The panel members then asked Kanhaiya as to whether he could identify the policemen who were present there and the man who assaulted him. He replied, “I can identify. I had told police that this man had assaulted me and I want to file a complaint against him. He was the first person who had assaulted me at the gate.”
At this juncture, the panel members told the DCP, “His safety is your responsibility. Do not give excuses. This is unbelievable. You are now under Supreme Court’s order and not BS Bassi’s order.”
His lawyers then told the panel members that magistrate had asked Kanhaiya to give a statement in writing. On being asked by the panel as to whether he was attacked inside the courtroom where the hearing took place, the student leader said, “No. Not inside the courtroom.”
The team of senior advocates, after taking stock of the situation at Patiala House Courts, informed the apex court that there was serious threat to safety of Kanhaiya who was beaten and pushed by unknown persons in the court.