 "Kanhaiya thrashed despite SC order to ensure his safety")
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar was sent to judicial custody until March 2 by a city court on Wednesday.
But while being taken to the Patiala House Courts, Kumar was thrashed by an unidentified man. This happened despite the Supreme Court instructing Delhi Police to ensure that he be given adequate security.
Kumar was produced in the Patiala House Courts amid tight security and sloganeering by lawyers, after his police custody expired on Wednesday. Vikram Chauhan, the lawyer who was among those beating up journalists on Monday, led a sloganeering group of lawyers on Wednesday as well. The lawyers chanted Vande Mataram and other slogans, waved the tricolour and attacked mediapersons. Journalists alleged police personnel looked the other way.
A Supreme Court-appointed team of six lawyers - Kapil Sibal, Rajeev Dhavan, Dushyant Dave, A D N Rao, Ajit Sinha and Harin Raval - asked Kumar and his counsel about the attack on him. The police claimed that even law-enforcers were beaten up.
Soon after the fresh assault, lawyers informed a Supreme Court Bench of the incidents. The team of senior advocates, after taking stock of the situation at the court, informed the apex court that there was a serious threat to Kumar. The court again asked the police to ensure Kumar's safety.
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court Bench had condemned Monday's attack on journalists in the Patiala House Courts. During Wednesday's hearing in the apex court, an advocate resorted to raising slogans. The Bench reprimanded him and accepted his unconditional apology. The court observed that there was a need for moderation in every section of the society. The Bench did not allow the advocates opposing Kumar's petition to repeat the "anti-national" slogans raised on the JNU campus on February 9. The Bench observed, "All of us are patriotic. Nobody is demeaning the motherland. But no one can be allowed to take the law in their own hands."
The police had to wait for an hour-and-a-half to escort Kumar from the court premises as about 150 lawyers laid siege to the court.
In continued flip-flop on the issue of his custody, Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi claimed that police had clinching evidence against the student leader. His comments came after reports that security agencies have told the Ministry of Home Affairs that Kumar did attend the February 9 protest on the JNU campus but there was no evidence of his having indulged in any seditious activity. However, by evening, Bassi said the police would have no objection if Kumar's bail application was accepted.
In a related development, three office-bearers of JNU unit of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh backed students' union, resigned from the protesting Centre's handling of the row at the university. The three - Pradeep, Rahul Yadav and Ankit Hans - said they disapproved of the "anti-India slogans" but were dissociating themselves from any further activity of ABVP because the way the Sangh Parivar affiliates have maligned their university in the last few days as well as "long standing difference of opinion with party on Manusmriti and Rohith Vermula incident."
Meanwhile, the BJP has decided to take up the JNU issue with vigour in the forthcoming Budget session of Parliament. The party believes it has garnered a groundswell of support for its stand on its core tenet of nationalism, while it has exposed opposition parties for having supported an "anti-national" cause.
The party is also launching a three-day 'Jan Swabhimaan Abhiyan' (campaign for peoples' self-pride) starting Thursday in which party leaders and workers will try to build up public opinion against the alleged anti-national activities in the central varsity and in support of action against people involved in it. Party leaders will contrast the recent sacrifices made by soldiers in Siachen with the "anti-national" activities in JNU.
Headley's deposition that Ishrat Jahan, who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in Gujarat in 2004, was a Laskar-e -Taiba (LeT) operative will also come handy for the saffron party in cornering Congress, which has made it clear that it will target the treasury benches over a host of issues, including Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide, "intolerance" and the status of economy, during the Budget session beginning on February 23.
In a related development, the Centre asked the West Bengal government for a report on "anti-national" protests in Kolkata's Jadavpur University. Clashes between different students groups were reported from the university campus today.
BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha came out in support of Kumar. He said the student leaders didn't say anything anti-national. Senior Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan today alleged that Kumar has been "falsely implicated" and that he is ready to represent him in court.
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said there is an "alternative voice" in the university which should also be heard.
But while being taken to the Patiala House Courts, Kumar was thrashed by an unidentified man. This happened despite the Supreme Court instructing Delhi Police to ensure that he be given adequate security.
Kumar was produced in the Patiala House Courts amid tight security and sloganeering by lawyers, after his police custody expired on Wednesday. Vikram Chauhan, the lawyer who was among those beating up journalists on Monday, led a sloganeering group of lawyers on Wednesday as well. The lawyers chanted Vande Mataram and other slogans, waved the tricolour and attacked mediapersons. Journalists alleged police personnel looked the other way.
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During a hearing before the Metropolitan Magistrate, only six lawyers representing Kumar were allowed inside, along with a JNU professor and five journalists. This was on the instructions of the Supreme Court. Kumar's lawyers told the magistrate that despite the Supreme Court's direction, the police had failed to maintain law and order. They said the police allowed the assaulter to go free.
A Supreme Court-appointed team of six lawyers - Kapil Sibal, Rajeev Dhavan, Dushyant Dave, A D N Rao, Ajit Sinha and Harin Raval - asked Kumar and his counsel about the attack on him. The police claimed that even law-enforcers were beaten up.
Soon after the fresh assault, lawyers informed a Supreme Court Bench of the incidents. The team of senior advocates, after taking stock of the situation at the court, informed the apex court that there was a serious threat to Kumar. The court again asked the police to ensure Kumar's safety.
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court Bench had condemned Monday's attack on journalists in the Patiala House Courts. During Wednesday's hearing in the apex court, an advocate resorted to raising slogans. The Bench reprimanded him and accepted his unconditional apology. The court observed that there was a need for moderation in every section of the society. The Bench did not allow the advocates opposing Kumar's petition to repeat the "anti-national" slogans raised on the JNU campus on February 9. The Bench observed, "All of us are patriotic. Nobody is demeaning the motherland. But no one can be allowed to take the law in their own hands."
The police had to wait for an hour-and-a-half to escort Kumar from the court premises as about 150 lawyers laid siege to the court.
In continued flip-flop on the issue of his custody, Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi claimed that police had clinching evidence against the student leader. His comments came after reports that security agencies have told the Ministry of Home Affairs that Kumar did attend the February 9 protest on the JNU campus but there was no evidence of his having indulged in any seditious activity. However, by evening, Bassi said the police would have no objection if Kumar's bail application was accepted.
In a related development, three office-bearers of JNU unit of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh backed students' union, resigned from the protesting Centre's handling of the row at the university. The three - Pradeep, Rahul Yadav and Ankit Hans - said they disapproved of the "anti-India slogans" but were dissociating themselves from any further activity of ABVP because the way the Sangh Parivar affiliates have maligned their university in the last few days as well as "long standing difference of opinion with party on Manusmriti and Rohith Vermula incident."
Meanwhile, the BJP has decided to take up the JNU issue with vigour in the forthcoming Budget session of Parliament. The party believes it has garnered a groundswell of support for its stand on its core tenet of nationalism, while it has exposed opposition parties for having supported an "anti-national" cause.
The party is also launching a three-day 'Jan Swabhimaan Abhiyan' (campaign for peoples' self-pride) starting Thursday in which party leaders and workers will try to build up public opinion against the alleged anti-national activities in the central varsity and in support of action against people involved in it. Party leaders will contrast the recent sacrifices made by soldiers in Siachen with the "anti-national" activities in JNU.
Headley's deposition that Ishrat Jahan, who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in Gujarat in 2004, was a Laskar-e -Taiba (LeT) operative will also come handy for the saffron party in cornering Congress, which has made it clear that it will target the treasury benches over a host of issues, including Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide, "intolerance" and the status of economy, during the Budget session beginning on February 23.
In a related development, the Centre asked the West Bengal government for a report on "anti-national" protests in Kolkata's Jadavpur University. Clashes between different students groups were reported from the university campus today.
BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha came out in support of Kumar. He said the student leaders didn't say anything anti-national. Senior Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan today alleged that Kumar has been "falsely implicated" and that he is ready to represent him in court.
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said there is an "alternative voice" in the university which should also be heard.