JNU row: Supreme Court agrees to give urgent hearing to plea on court scuffle

Journalists met Rajnath Singh and questioned the ‘silence of police’ over the attack on students and scribes.

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to give an urgent hearing tomorrow to a plea seeking action against those involved in thrashing journalists and JNU students and teachers in the Patiala House court complex where a student union leader was to be produced.

The petition filed by N D Jaiprakash, an alumnus of JNU, who was hurt in the violence on Monday, sought action against the people involved in the violence and over -"inaction-" on the part of Delhi Police.

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.

It said the Kanhaiya will be produced in court again on expiry of his police remand.

The petition also sought a direction to Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Delhi Police to take all preventive action so that no such violence takes place either inside the court room or within the court complex as such type of activities in the court complex put the life of the accused in peril.

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.

Read: Lawyers attack JNU students, scribes in Patiala House 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.