PEOPLE’S UNION FOR DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS (PUDR)
Condemning the vigilante action at the Patiala House Courts, New Delhi
Press release
15th February, 2016
PUDR
strongly condemns the shocking acts of physical violence and abuse
perpetrated by 40 advocates and BJP MLA OP Sharma against students and
faculty of the Jawaharlal Nehru University and media persons today, at
the Patiala House court, in full presence of the police. Students,
teachers and media persons had gathered as arrested JNUSU President
Kanhaiya Kumar was to be produced in court.
An
hour before Kanhaiya was to be produced, a mob of 40 lawyers descended
on those present, threatening them to leave, or risk facing violence.
Following this, the mob then proceeded to assault, molest and abuse the
faculty, students and media persons. Outside the court premises, BJP MLA
OP Sharma was also found mercilessly beating up an unidentified man.
The incidents have been recorded on camera.
Furthermore,
personnel from the Delhi police present at the scene added their weight
behind the vigilantes asking the students, faculty and media-persons to
leave, and later standing by as the hooliganism unfolded. Subsequently,
the IG Delhi Police has passed the incidents off as minor scuffles,
despite video evidence to the contrary. PUDR strongly condemns this
partisan behaviour of the Delhi Police, and its dereliction of duty in
not maintaining law and order and protecting peacefully assembled people
against hooliganism.
The
outcome of these events has been that Kanhaiya Kumar’s remand has been
extended by two days- a fact that has been overtaken by the fracas at
the Court. Media reports suggest that this attack was pre-planned, with
messages having been circulated among Patiala House Bar Association
members on WhatsApp the previous day, to teach those from JNU 'a lesson
in nationalism’. The same day, the Home Minister linked the JNU
incidents with the Lashkar-e-Toiba based on a fake Twitter account of
Hafeez Sayeed, thus using the authority of his office to vitiate the
atmosphere, and load it against Kanhaiya.
The
arrest of Kanhaiya, the hounding of students on allegations of
sedition, the blatant militarization of the JNU campus, and the patently
partisan attitude of the Delhi police, is an abuse of law and
constitutional freedoms of all citizens. PUDR stands firm in its
opposition to the criminalization of dissent through the colonial-era
law on sedition.
While
looking to the Courts to stand by the Constitution and safeguard the
rights of citizens, and stop this undeclared emergency, we demand that:
1. All those involved in the act of violence be prosecuted as per law
2. Kanhaiya Kumar be released immediately and unconditionally
3. FIRs against students alleging sedition be quashed immediately
4. Police and other armed forces be immediately removed from JNU campus.
Moushumi Basu, Deepika Tandon
Secretaries, PUDR (pudr@pudr.org)
15th February, 2016
