Live: I criticised PM Modi and RSS, says Kanhaiya Kumar during interrogation; Bassi meets PMO

Feb 17, 2016

• 14:15 (IST)
  Watch: Firstpost reporter Tarique Anwar assaulted while Delhi police just watched
• 14:10 (IST)
  FP reporter Tarique Anwar assaulted by lawyers while Delhi Police looks on
  Mr BS Bassi, please read this carefully.
  Firstpost reporter Tarique Anwar was assaulted and beaten up by lawyers who are protesting anti-national comments by Kanhaiya Kumar outside the Patiala House Court complex in New Delhi.
  "There were two groups of lawyers. One was shouting slogans like Gaddaron ko bahar karo, and there was another group who supported the JNU student and were yelling 'Kanhaiya tum sangharsh karo hum tumhare saath hain.' I went inside and stood next to the police. I took out my phone to send an update to the office and saw the scuffle between the two groups. I took a photo when the group of lawyers protesting against Kanhaiya took my phone, deleted the photo and took me inside and assaulted me. All this happened in front of the Delhi police."
  According to Anwar, Delhi police officers who were standing inside the court premises didn't even blink, instead they stood and watched and told Anwar, "Aap yahan rukiye."
  According to Anwar, the Delhi police official was of ACP rank and Tarique escaped only when other journalists raised an alarm and asked the police to let him go.
• 13:59 (IST)
  Court gate closed after clashes
  Speaking to mediapersons outside the court complex, a protesting lawyer said, "Jo Pakistan zindabad keh rahe hain, aap unhe hero bana rahe hain." Later, the court gate was closed after clashes took place between two groups of lawyers.
• 13:41 (IST)
  Fresh protests reported at court
  
  Lawyers including Vikram Chauhan raised slogans of 'Vande Mataram' and 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' outside Patiala House Court complex in New Delhi. The protests were reported after SC restricted entry  in Kanhaiya Kumar's hearing. 

  Team of judges headed by District Judge Patiala House court reviewed the security inside court room and court premises.

  — ANI (@ANI_news) February 17, 2016

  People who said "Pakistan Zindabad" have been made heroes & we are being called "gundas": Vikram Chauhan pic.twitter.com/lwjcSzuCT2

  — ANI (@ANI_news) February 17, 2016

• 13:35 (IST)
  SC asks cops to ensure proper security at Patiala House court
  The apex court ordered that there will be restricted entry of people which will include the lawyers for the accused and prosecution, in the court room during the proceedings relating to the remand of Kanhaiya whose extended police custody of two days is expiring today.
  Besides the presence of lawyers of both sides, the bench comprising Justices J Chelameswar and A M Sapre said that the two family members of the accused, if present, will be allowed in the court room, otherwise one faculty member of JNU and a student would be allowed on behalf of the accused.
  The bench also restricted the entry of mediapersons inside the court room during the proceeding by limiting it to five journalists.
  It said that 25 journalists would be allowed to enter the compound and all the entries would be allowed only after proper identification and verification.
  The apex court asked the Delhi High Court Registrar General to be present in the Patiala House court complex for verification of people or group of people who have been allowed access to the court room and its compound.
  It, however, said that the directions given by it were limited to only today.
  The bench was informed that administrative committee of the Delhi High Court will meet at 2 PM today to analyse and peruse the report of the District Judge who was asked to prepare the account of the incident that had taken place on February 15 at the Patiala House court where the lawyers had thrashed students, teachers and journalists who were presnt in connection with the Kanhaiya Kumar case.
  PTI
• 13:34 (IST)
  Jadavpur University VC issues statement
  Jadavpur University VC Suranjan Das said that the rally in the campus was not officially convened by the students' union.
  "Some fringe elements raised slogans, we condemn it. Entire university can't be defamed. The entire Jadavpur University student body can not be condemned," said Das.

  Students' union have categorically stated they hv disassociated from particular fringe elements who raised slogans: Jadavpur University VC

  — ANI (@ANI_news) February 17, 2016

  Rally started from Jadavpur and then roamed around other streets. I don't want to comment on all that, says Jadavpur University VC

  — ANI (@ANI_news) February 17, 2016

  Rally started from Jadavpur and then roamed around other streets. I don't want to comment on all that, says Jadavpur University VC

  — ANI (@ANI_news) February 17, 2016

  I will never govern the University with Police's help, it is an autonomous body, says Jadavpur University VC Suranjan Das.

  — ANI (@ANI_news) February 17, 2016

• 13:31 (IST)
• 13:11 (IST)
  JNU VC speaks to the media
  There was no police presence in campus, JNU vice-chancellor says while briefing media. "We strongly condemn the attack on faculty and students that happened in Patial House Court on Monday."
  It was alleged that Jagadesh Kumar had given unfettered access to the police inside the campus. But the vice-chancellor on Wednesday confirmed that the allegations were untrue and have no basis.
• 13:02 (IST)
  SC directs Delhi HC Registrar-General to be present in Patiala House Court
  Meanwhile, the Supreme Court, in an unprecedented direction, has also asked the Registrar General of the Delhi High Court to be present in court when Kanhaiya Kumar is produced, PTI reported.. The order gives an indicator of the fact that the top court has taken serious note of the violence in the Patiala House court on Monday.
• 12:55 (IST)

  We are the ones carrying out the investigation and people are the ones coming up with conjectures: BS Bassi (Delhi CP) on JNU Row

  — ANI (@ANI_news) February 17, 2016

  We have adequate evidence against Kanhaiyya (JNUSU Pres) on basis of which he has been arrested: BS Bassi, Police Commissioner

  — ANI (@ANI_news) February 17, 2016

  As per our investigation some outsiders were also involved apart from JNU students. We are investigating this aspect: BS Bassi #JNURow

  — ANI (@ANI_news) February 17, 2016

  agar PTI ye khabr chalata hai, voh aap nazarandaaz kar sakte hain. Aap PTI ki khabar maan lo ya jo investigation kar raha hai uski:BL Bassi

  — ANI (@ANI_news) February 17, 2016

  We have evidence, we will sift evidence, and take step according to law. We are unbiased, not prejudiced: BL Bassi pic.twitter.com/W2f9sPyyQj

  — ANI (@ANI_news) February 17, 2016

The crisis surrounding Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is not going to recede any time soon. Apart from an urgent Supreme Court hearing on the scuffle between lawyers, students, mediapersons and one BJP MLA, which happened at the Patiala House Courts complex on Monday, Jadavpur University students and students from Aligarh Muslim University have joined the JNU students in raising slogans criticising the government.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to give an urgent hearing on Wednesday to a plea seeking action against those involved when lawyers attacked journalists and students while a Delhi BJP MLA assaulted a CPI(M) member at the Patiala House Courts complex in the heart of the National Capital.
Union minister Kiren Rijiju set off another storm hours before the hearing, asking what the fuss was all about: "Was there a murder?" he asked.

The petition filed by ND Jaiprakash, an alumnus of JNU, who was hurt in the violence on Monday, sought action against the people involved in the violence and over the "inaction" on the part of the Delhi Police.

The petition, which was mentioned before a bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur by senior advocate Indira Jaising, also demanded that the security measures in the court complex should be such that no person becomes a victim of violence.

BJP MLA OP Sharma assaulting CPI(M) activist in New Delhi on Monday. PTI

The petition said the violence witnessed in the court not only endangered the life of JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar — arrested in a case of sedition — but also prevented journalists from carrying out their work of reporting court proceedings. It said the Kanhaiya will be produced in court again on expiry of his police remand.

Meanwhile, slogans eulogising parliament attack mastermind Afzal Guru and demands for "azadi" echoed in Jadavpur University in Kolkata on Tuesday.

Slogans like "Afzal bole azadi, jab tum na doge azadi, toh chheen lenge azadi, arey chheen ke lenge azadi" were heard during a torchlight procession brought out at Jadavpur University in protest against the "atrocities" perpetrated on JNU students by the Narendra Modi government.

The row over JNU started on 9 February when the students' union leader Kanhaiya Kumar addressed a gathering in the college campus and protested against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

"What we mean to say is that we don’t need a patriotism certificate from the RSS. We don’t need a nationalist certificate from the RSS. We belong to this country and we love the soil. We fight for the 80 percent of the poor population in the country. This is patriotism for us. We have full faith in Babasaheb, we have full faith in our country’s constitution and we want to strongly say that if anyone points fingers on the constitution of this country, be it Sanghi or anyone else, we will not tolerate that finger."

Kanhaiya Kumar is the first All-India Students Federation member to become JNUSU president. The student was charged with sedition and was immediately taken into custody.

Vice-Chancellor Jadesh Kumar appealed to the students to not resort to strikes and protests so that academic functioning of the university is not hampered. “We also stand for free expression of ideas but I believe there is no need for strikes as the problem can be solved amicably. We are reaching out to the entire JNU community to see how the problem can be addressed but academic functioning of the university is of prime importance and should not be hampered,” he told reporters.

While the teachers association of the university have raised questions over the VC allowing a police crackdown on campus, Kumar said he was bound with the “law of land”. “I never invited the police to enter the campus and pick our students. We only provided whatever cooperation was needed as per the law of land. We were bound to do so,” he added.

An united Opposition vehemently protested against Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's diktat against the agitating students of JNU. Former CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat on Monday took potshots at Rajnath Singh for saying that Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed backed the Afzal Guru event at the JNU campus in New Delhi.

"The home minister relies on a fake Twitter handle for information," Karat, who visited the campus on Monday, told the media.

That set the ball rolling. Soon, former Delhi University professor SAR Geelani was charged with sedition and and questioned for several hours. Geelani was arrested as early as 3 am on Tuesday.
At an event in Press Club on 10 February, in which Geelani was present on the dais along with three other speakers, a group allegedly had shouted slogans hailing Afzal Guru. Taking suo motu cognisance of the matter, the police registered a case against Geelani and other unnamed persons on 12 February.

Police had claimed that Geelani was booked as he is presumed to be the "main organiser" of the event.

The growing political tension over these alleged anti-India protests at the JNU campus which spilled over to a Delhi court where a mob of lawyers thrashed reporters and mediapersons before the hearing of Kanhaiya's sedition case. This happened even as the police present at the spot remained mute spectators, according to an NDTV report.

The escalating stand-off over the arrest of Kanhaiya saw the students going on strike until he is released. Reports on Monday afternoon said that teachers of the university have decided to join the agitating students over the ongoing row as well.

"A group of people in the garb of lawyers, but were sympathisers of the BJP, thrashed JNU students who were produced in court today… The lawyers indulged in rowdyism. Outside the court, BJP MLA OP Sharma and a group of hooligans attacked students and journalists. The phones of journalists were snatched away. These people were aware that they were journalists… This hooliganism unleashed by the BJP… they may be shouting patriotic slogans… but that is totally to misguide the people. The hooligans were led by a BJP MLA," Congress spokesperson PC Chacko is quoted in The Indian Express.

The BJP's Delhi legislator OP Sharma allegedly attacked a CPI(M) activist and JNU students at the Patiala House Court on Monday. The party backed Sharma, saying he was opposing anti-India slogans and was hit on the head first, to which he reacted.

"Main goli bhi maar deta agar bandook hoti. Koi hamari Ma ko gaali dega to kya usey maaroge nahin (I would have opened fire if I had a gun. If someone abuses our mother, won’t I beat him up)."
This is what Sharma said when he was asked by reporters why did he thrash a CPM activist in the court premise on Monday. Sharma, who boasts of a close association with union finance minister Arun Jaitley, is ill-reputed for his foul language and violent behaviour.

Activists and senior politicians termed the scuffle at the court as a black day in India's democracy.
As a result of Monday's attacks on students and media, eminent mediapersons on Tuesday decided to protest against Monday's assault. Senior TV journalists like Rajdeep Sardesai, NDTV's Barkha Dutt, Sonal Mehrotra and Nidhi Razdan were among the few who led the march on Tuesday.