New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday evening ordered the Delhi Police commissioner to ensure the personal safety of JNU student union leader Kanhaiya Kumar and all those lawyers and journalists who were inside the Patiala House court hall when the sedition case was heard.
A bench of Justices J. Chelameswar and A.M. Sapre passed this order when a team of senior advocates sent by it to witness the ground reality at the Patiala House courts around 2 pm informed the Bench later that despite the apex court order earlier in the day,
Kanhaiya was assaulted inside the court by an advocate. It sought a report from the police on the day’s incidents by 10.30 am on February 19.
Senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Rajeev Dhavan, Dushyant Dave and others informed the bench that a group of men in lawyers’ robes, in open defiance of the Supreme Court order, barged into the Patiala House courts complex and assaulted a journalist and Kanhaiya Kumar. They said the group, which was seen raising the slogan “Vande Mataram” and waving the Indian flag on the court premises, was led by lawyer Vikram Chauhan.
The bench, while expressing serious concern over the developments, asked the members of the committee to give a report on Wednesday’s developments by 2 pm on Thursday. The Delhi high court registrar-general was also asked to give a report by Thursday afternoon. On the plea that the trial venue be shifted outside Patiala House, the bench said, “We don’t want to send a wrong signal.”
More than a dozen journalists, including women journalists, suffered physical assault and sustained injuries at the court premises on Wednesday.
