Will The Law Save Kanhaiya?

NEW DELHI: On 17th February, when Kanhaiya was to produced in front of the Patiala High Court, he was assaulted by a group of men dressed in black robes. Two days before, JNU professors like Nivedita Menon, Himanshu and Rohith were also manhandled by presumably lawyers, who were loudly shouting ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’. They egregiously pointed at the professors and journalists present in the court, asking them to vacate the premises as they were not allowed to be present.

A scared yet strong Kanhaiya spoke in front of the Supreme Court team how the police on how he was assaulted. He stated how initially he was crowded by a mob of media people through which the police protected him. He in fact stated ‘I was almost disrobed during the attack’ by the lawyers, which the police allowed to happen. It seemed as if they were impatiently waiting for him to come so that they could assault him. He was kicked in his stomach, his slippers went missing in the entire frenzy, he was manhandled to the highest degree by these lawyers who were loudly calling for other lawyers to join the assault. In spite of the fact that Kanhaiya stated that he could identify the man who was beating him up, the police let the attackers go and acted in a very complicit manner. He even stated that “I think they were highly politically motivated people.’

Prashant Bhushan, senior lawyer, stated that police were saying contradictory statements when they start lying. They contradict each other and sometimes they even contradict themselves. In spite of 49 police officers were escorting Kanhaiya, he was assaulted. The buck stops at the Police Commissioner. He was asked by the Supreme Court to be responsible and protect Kanhaiya but he miserably failed along with the DCP who was present there. It seems that he had given a different direction to the Delhi Police because otherwise it is impossible for the mob of police officers to control the frenzy there.

So, if lawlessness can happen within the court premises, what about people outside? It is an open contempt of the law. Prashant Bhushan stated that such things happen in a fascist state. It’s a shame for a country to witness this which prides itself to be a democracy.

The three lawyers have been identified by the police and the investigation is bound to take place. according to BJP’s Nalin Surie.But he states that there is one context that needs to be seen, as in ‘to what extent the issue has to be seen on the basis of evidence and on the basis of statements.’ Adding another ideation to the entire context, the BJP leader stated that some lawyers were acting on behalf of Kanhaiya and hence, their statements have to be seen with a pinch of salt.

Now, nothing can be more dehumanizing to Indian democracy that in spite of clearly having recorded evidence of Kanhaiya being beaten up on February 17 within the court premises, there are conspiracy theories running around that these lawyers were representing him.

What is disturbing in this case, is the utter silence of our Prime Minister, our Home Minister and other top echelons, as if the entire episode took place in some other country. As Achin Vanaik clearly stated that if something like this would have happened in Pakistan, we Indians would have been the first to claim that what form of ‘callous injustice took place’ as we belong to a democratic state. But look here, the manner in which media trials are going on, the draconian charges of criminal conspiracy and sedition are being slapped on defenseless students.

As a nation, where are we heading to? Certainly, there are two forms of nationalism emerging. The first one is aggressive, dominating and capable of assaults while the second one is democratic and demanding the Right to Dissent. Both are forms of nationalism but its an utter shame that students of JNU are now being told to prove their nationality and patriotism in such critical circumstances when they are being targeted as ‘anti-nationals’ and ‘parasites’, quite immediately and easily.

It’s a deplorable condition as of now and all we can hope is that history does not get repeated on March 3when Kanhaiya has to be produced again in front of the court. If something does happen, who would be responsible?



(The writer is a doctoral student at JNU, New Delhi)