JNU controversy: Lawyer disrupts SC proceedings, chants 'Vande Mataram'

After the incident, SC limited the number of people to be allowed inside the courtroom for hearing.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday limited the number of people present in the courtroom as a lawyer tried to disrupt the court's proceeding on the Patiala House Court scuffle.

The lawyer chanted ‘Vande Mataram' slogans during the hearing of a plea regarding the attack on journalists, students and faculty members of Jawaharlal Nehru University at the Delhi court's premises.

\"If this is happening inside the SC then what are we left to say,\" the Supreme Court said, adding, “The presence of journalists inside court required more than others. Five journalists will be allowed inside courtroom and 25 within the court premises.\"

The apex court also added that only two students and two faculty members were permitted inside the courtroom.

The court also condemned what happened in Patiala House Court. Thereafter the lawyer who chanted the slogans inside the courtroom submitted unconditional apology to the bench.

Jawaharlal Nehru University students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar will be produced before Delhi court on Wednesday as his two-day police custody ends. Kumar will again be produced before the Metropolitan Magistrate at Patiala House court complex, which had earlier witnessed violence during his hearing.

Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested last week on charges of sedition for allegedly chanting anti-India, pro-Afzal Guru slogans at an event in JNU. However, he was given a clean chit by Delhi police who stated that Kumar was not involved in any anti-India sloganeering on campus.

The petition was filed by N D Jaiprakash, who alleged that police were a \"mute spectator to this brazen display of violence and brute force being perpetrated on innocent persons\".

\"This petition merely seeks to assure safety of the accused, their relatives, friends, lawyers and journalists while discharging their legal as well as professional obligations. The surcharged and vicious atmosphere in the Court premises would come in the way of the fundamental right of the accused for a fair trial,\" the plea said.

The petition, which was mentioned before a bench headed by Chief J T S Thakur by senior advocate Indira Jaising, also demanded that the security measures in the court complex should be such that no person becomes victim of violence.

The petition said the violence witnessed in the court not only endangered the life of JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar, arrested in a case of sedition, but also prevented journalists from carrying out their work of reporting court proceedings.

Hundreds of journalists held a protest march against the attack on mediapersons covering the hearing of a sedition case in which the JNU students' union president has been arrested and demanded that the culprits be brought to book.

The scribes, representing various journalist bodies, took out a march from the Press Club to the Supreme Court raising slogans in support of freedom of expression and against alleged police inaction during the incident yesterday.

A delegation of journalists also met Home Minister Rajnath Singh and sought a thorough probe into the incident and strict action against those involved in the assault at the Patiala House Court Complex.

The journalists questioned the \"silence of police\" over the attack on students and scribes and dubbed it an insult to the judiciary as the incident took place inside a court complex.

Journalists, students and teachers of JNU were beaten up allegedly by groups of lawyers, drawing criticism from the press amidst calls for the Home Ministry to look into the \"dereliction of duty\" by police, which has been accused of being a \"mute spectator\" during the incident.

The journalist bodies said it was a matter of \"great concern\" that attacks on mediapersons are \"going up\". Police have said two FIRs have been registered against unnamed persons in connection with the attack.

Earlier, Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi said the alleged negligence on the part of police is being probed and the guilty will face legal action.

Meanwhile, police refused to register an FIR against Rahul Gandhi on the complaint of some BJP leaders in Kanpur for supporting students protesting in JNU saying, it was out of their jurisdiction.

Terming Gandhi's act of support as 'anti-national' BJP president Surendra Methani along with other leaders marched to the police station to lodge an FIR. But Circle Officer Rajendra Dhar Dwivedi said that BJP Kanpur since the incident happened in Delhi, he refused to take the FIR.