SRINAGAR: Condemning the scuffle outside the Patiala House court on February 15, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah on Thursday said it was an ‘attack on democracy’, adding that the Vice-Chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University should have handled the matter.
“Lawyers were beaten up, even they thrashed people. It is a democratic country, everyone has the right to go to the court and place the issue. Then it will be the court’s decision. I believe what happened outside the Patiala House court is an attack on democracy…it should not have taken place,” Abdullah told ANI.
“This was a university matter. The vice chancellor should have handled it. Now, it has become a huge matter. Now, police are involved, people were thrashed, students are being arrested and some are being searched for,” he added.
Abdullah further stated that the government should take step on the matter, adding that the accused should be arrested, charge sheeted and produced in the court.
Earlier, the Bar Council of India (BCI) condemned the attack on journalists at the Patiala House Court complex.
The BCI also sought a report from the Patiala House court bar council in this regard.
Earlier on Wednesday, lawyer Vikram Singh Chauhan once again led a group of his colleagues in unleashing a brazen attack on journalists and JNU students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar at the Patiala House Court complex.
The group attacked journalists and Kanhaiya, in open defiance of an order of the Supreme Court, which had directed Delhi Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi to ensure proper and adequate security at the court complex.
Kanhaiya has been sent to Tihar Jail and kept in a separate cell. The concerned jail authorities have sounded a high security alert inside the prison complex and are keeping a round-the-clock watch for Kanhaiya’s safety.
Kanhaiya, who was arrested by the Delhi Police last Friday and has been booked under sedition charge in connection with an event at JNU where anti-national slogans were raised, was yesterday remanded to judicial custody till March 2.