NEW DELHI: The largescale violence at the Patiala House Courts where JNUSU president Kanahiya Kumar was produced was the result of "police collusion," senior advocate Rajeev Dhawan, a member of the apex court-appointed six-member committee which had visited the court complex, said today.
"I have no difficulty in my mind about there being a police collusion. As we went inside, we were told that somebody who was barred entry into Patiala House by the Supreme Court, had a free walk. Registrar General of the High Court asked the police to stop that man and arrest him. But the cops did not. If this is not collusion, I don't know what is," he told a private TV channel today.
Dhawan, who had taken a stock of the ground situation of the violence-hit Patiala House, alleged that the attackers were shielded by the police.
In an apparent reference to Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi and criticising him for arresting Kanhaiya Kumar on charge of sedition, he said police cannot discharge their duty if they are protecting people "politically".
"Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi talks of anti- nationals. He must realise that the immunity he has given to all these people is anti-national. Police have a duty, but as long as they are protecting people politically, that duty will never be discharged.
"You have a Police Commissioner here and it is his duty to make sure that people who indulge in such hooliganism are brought to book. There is a layer of immunity that has been provided by politics and police," Dhawan said.
"Even the Police Commissioner does not understand the offence of sedition. Kanhaiya Kumar should not have been arrested for sedition. When he asked for 'azadi' (freedom), it was 'azadi' from hunger, poverty, social injustice," he said.
Narrating the horrifying experience while visiting Patiala House Courts yesterday, the senior lawyer said, "Even with the cordon around us, I was pushed. How did it happen? I understand the problems of police but they did not perform their duty."
Dhawan said, "If police was not there, we would have been beaten black and blue. The words used against us, debris
thrown at us is simply something that cannot be done in this country."
"What I saw on the premises of Patiala House court was anti-national like goondaism, hooliganism and violence. People being beaten up is anti-national. Any assault on the system of justice is anti-national," the senior lawyer said.
He expressed concern over the safety of the jailed JNUSU President saying, "Our deepest concern is that the security of Kanhaiya Kumar. There is a threat even in jail from what the newspaper reports say."
"If he is released on bail, proper security be given to him and his whereabouts must not be released," he said.
Criticising the troublemakers at Patiala House court, Dhawan said, "they may have LLBs, they may be entitled to black coat, but they are hooligans because of the way they behaved. That is a non-lawyer behaviour.
"As far as their right to protest is concerned, they have to do it peacefully. They should not attack others."