Lawyers attack JNU students, journalists in Patiala House court premises

New Delhi: A group of lawyers thrashed students and journalists inside the Patiala House court premises on Monday afternoon. The students and journalists had gone to the court for the bail hearing of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who has been arrested on charges of sedition for allegedly raising anti-India slogans.

The lawyers shouted pro-India and anti-JNU slogans, and then got into a scuffle with the students. There were some JNU University faculty members, too, with the students students inside the court and the lawyers allegedly asked all of them to leave the premise. The faculty members were escorted out of the court room.

Claiming that lawyers were affiliated to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the students allege that Delhi Police personnel present in the court did almost nothing to stop the assault.

IBN7 reporter Amit Pande has been injured after being beaten up by the lawyers while CNN-IBN's Meenakshi Upreti was dragged out of the court room along with some other journalists.

Several other journalists also reported that they were beaten up and threatened by the lawyers while the police stood as a mute witness.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has already unleashed a political storm with a claim that the event at JNU to protest the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru had received "support" from LeT founder Hafiz Saeed amid an escalating showdown over the crisis at the varsity. Opposition parties demanded that the Home Minister provide proof to back up his claim on the event at the JNU campus.

According to the police, the event also saw some students allegedly raising anti-India slogans.

In a shot in the arm for the students demanding the release of its students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who was slapped with sedition charge, teachers associations of 40 central universities extended support to the protest by the students and teachers of the prestigious JNU.

JNU's teachers' association also openly came out against the administration for mishandling the matter and particularly slammed it for allowing police action before completion of a probe by the university's proctorial committee in connection with the event. The teachers are backing the students.