Mail Today, 14 October 2011
SAFFRON GOONS STRIKE AGAIN
By Rohan Venkataramakrishnan in New Delhi
Cops watch as Anna men are beaten outside court Bhushan’s assailants sent to judicial custody
A DAY after Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan was attacked in his chambers on Wednesday, the intolerant Sri Ram Sene goons struck again on Thursday. And with impunity.
The goons, who once again displayed their ugly and violent side, thrashed Anna Hazare’s followers who had gathered outside the Patiala House court in support of Bhushan. The Sene hoodlums were there to back the three men accused of attacking Bhushan.
They were being produced in the court.
What was equally shocking about Thursday’s episode was the role of bystanders played by the police.
Although present at the spot, they did nothing to stop the attackers, giving the impression that the government was helpless in front of the goons.
As the police watched, about 40 Sri Ram Sene goons began to beat up five ‘ Team Anna’ supporters who were speaking out in defence of Bhushan. The Sri Ram Sene has labelled him a ‘ traitor’ for his pro- referendum stand on Kashmir.
One elderly man was dragged along the road and kicked repeatedly, including in the face, while another was shoved and punched.
The scuffle took place in front of TV cameras outside gate number 2 of the court complex, with the police only stepping in after journalists intervened to stop the assailants.
Policemen then took three of the injured, identified as Mohd Shoufi ( 51), Raj Kumar ( 56) and Sheru Khan ( 36), to the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital. The attackers managed to slink away from the scene. In a late night development, the Tilak Marg police registered a case of assault and causing injury against unknown persons.
The lawlessness outside the Patiala House court took place after a tense afternoon when the goons, some of whom claimed allegiance to a little known Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena, gathered to provide moral support to Inder Verma, Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga and Vishnu Gupta— who are accused of beating up Bhushan. Verma
— who claims to be president of Sri Ram Sene, Delhi — was caught on tape thrashing Bhushan in his chamber on Wednesday, while the other two spoke to news channels afterwards saying they were also present at the time of attack.
The attackers claimed they assaulted Bhushan after his statements calling for a plebiscite in Kashmir, which they called traitorous. “ Those who challenge our Constitution with irresponsible statements like Bhushan’s are left out, but those who are protecting the nation, protecting Bharat Mata, are put in jail,” said advocate
Thakur Virender Pratap Singh, representing Verma, outside the court. “ Their action might have been unfortunate, they can arrest them, but why aren’t they charging Prashant Bhushan with sedition,” he asked.
Police managed to detain Verma outside Bhushan’s chambers immediately after the attack, and arrested the other two near Gurudwara Bangla Sahib on Thursday morning. They were then produced before a magistrate at the Patiala House court, where police moved an application asking for a test identification parade ( TIP) for Pal Singh and Gupta, who were not caught on tape.
“ We are not disputing that we were present in the office. We have been shown yesterday in the media, and both persons gave interviews all over TV channels,” counsel for the accused told the court. Gupta and Pal Singh refused to undergo the identification test, which is voluntary by law.
The court, however, warned the accused that their refusal could be used as evidence against them.
The three accused were then sent to judicial custody for a day and are to be produced before a magistrate on October 14. The police had initially asked for two days’ of police custody for Verma, saying they needed to elicit information about a fourth person involved in the attack, named Arun.’ The magistrate, however, decided to post this matter for Friday ( October 14) as well.
While arguing against police’s application for a TIP test, the defence counsel said that the activists’ action against Bhushan had not been pre- planned.
“ These men, they are associated with Anna Hazare and his movement, and they had gone to get a clarification from Mr. Bhushan. They even got an appointment for it,” said advocate Kishen Nautiyal, who represents all the three accused.
While there, there was some provocation from Mr Bhushan, and the incident happened.” He did not clarify whether this provocation from Bhushan was physical or
rhetorical. Ironically after the hullabaloo, Delhi BJP released a statement condemning the act of Ram Sene’s men outside Patiala House and claiming the attack was the handiwork of Congress leader Digvijaya Singh.“
After the verbal attack by Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Anna Hazare and his supporters, the attack on Prashant Bhushan and Hazare’s supporters outside Patiala House is a direct manifestation of Congress conspiracy against Hindu nationalists— BJP and RSS, besides all anticorruption crusaders,” Delhi BJP spokesman Vijay Jolly said in a statement. One of the Anna supporters said, “ We were demonstrating to lodge our protest against the attack on Bhushan. We had no intention to fight but these people came and roughed us up.
They kicked and slapped us.” Rajkumar’s grand- daughter was one of the two little girls who had helped Hazare break his 13- day anti- corruption fast at the Ram Lila Maidan in August.
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