Lawyer who attacked media held, gets bail
Hours after the dramatic Tuesday night surrender of JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhat-tacharya, both accused of sedition, they were produced before a metropolitan magistrate inside the R.K. Puram police station premises at 7.30 pm Wednesday, where they were remanded to three days in police custody.
In a parallel development, Vikram Singh Chauhan, the face of two attacks on journalists, JNU students and teachers and Kanhaiya at the Patiala House court complex last week, was arrested too on Wednesday. The lawyer, who was caught on tape boasting of his violent actions, appeared before the police Wednesday, six days after he was served multiple summons, but was released on bail later in the night. In the video, he was purportedly heard saying: “We bashed him (Kumar) for three hours. He wet his pants. We beat him up so much.”
There were angry protests over alleged police inaction against the lawyer though he was the most prominent of the lawyers involved in unleashing violence at the court complex on two separate occasions. Before presenting himself before the police, Mr Chauhan said: “None of the charges against me have been proved. A few channels are projecting me as a goon. I did not beat the reporters. Others did.” Groups of lawyers led by him had thrashed journalists and JNU students and teachers on February 15 and repeated their act on February 17 against Kanhaiya Kumar and some journalists, in open defiance of the Supreme Court’s instructions.
Yashpal Singh, one of Chauhan’s colleagues who was also caught on camera thrashing journalists and JNU teachers and students, was arrested Tuesday night and released on bail immediately.
The Delhi police, meanwhile, told the Delhi high court on Wednesday that JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar, who has been in judicial custody at Tihar Jail, would again be required for investigations as he had not only “participated” in the event where “anti-national” slogans were allegedly raised but “actually organised” the event at the university campus on February 9.
In a 13-page status report filed before Justice Pratibha Rani, the police said besides Kanhaiya and other accused persons, some “foreign elements” with faces covered to hide their identity were also present at the event.
The Delhi high court finally deferred the hearing on Kanhaiya’s bail application till February 29. The police is now waiting for the surrender of three other students — Anant Prakash, Ashutosh Kumar and Rama Naga, who had recently surfaced at the campus with Umar and Anirban. Sources also hinted at the possibility of making the remaining three students approvers.
All through Wednesday, Umar and Anirban were grilled separately by investigators at the R K Puram police station. The two had made a dramatic surrender before the police on Tuesday night. The two appeared before the police after the high court denied their request that they be allowed to surrender at a secret location. The court had, however, directed the police to ensure that there was no error while producing them before the magistrate. The had also told the students’ lawyers and the police to prepare a strategy together for the hearing.
At JNU late Tuesday night, the duo, with some students and faculty members, came out of the campus gate at 11.35 am. Within minutes, they and the JNU security staff boarded a white Tata Sumo. Somewhere on Nelson Mandela Marg the duo were handed over to the police. The students were then taken to the R.K. Puram police station, where doctors medically examined them.
In their overnight questioning by the police, Umar and Anirban were repeatedly asked about their whereabouts before they surfaced at the JNU campus. They were told to disclose details about those behind the controversial event and about the source of their funds, They were reportedly confronted with “28 inflammatory” slogans allegedly raised at the event. The students reportedly told investigators that “outsiders” had raised anti-India slogans at the event to mark the anniversary of the execution of Afzal Guru. When they were shown pictures of “slogan shouters”, the duo reportedly told the police they could not identify them.
A police source said Umar told the investigators that he had “conceived the idea” of the event. He said Anirban had “distributed” the event material. Asked about the idea behind the event, Umar reportedly said he was “totally against the idea of capital punishment”. Both, however, denied raising pro-Afzal Guru slogans, the sources added.
On Kanhaiya’s bail plea, the police in its report told the court “it is pertinent to mention here that shockingly the incident dated February 9 records the presence of foreign (elements) with their mouths covered, which came during the course of investigations... The investigation agency is looking for the linkage between the petitioner (Kanhaiya), his co-accused and the said foreign elements who were hiding their identity by covering their faces”.
The police said it was “an open secret” that the event has ramifications not only within India but “an international impact” as well. It said the investigation was at such a stage that if bail was granted to the petitioner, this line of investigation will be adversely affected.
