JNU students, journalists attacked in court

Violence broke out in the Patiala House court complex when groups of lawyers on Monday in New Delhi thrashed journalists and students and teachers of JNU while the political slugfest over the arrest of the university's student leader snowballed with BJP chief Amit Shah targeting Rahul and Sonia Gandhi on the issue. The Congress hit back at Shah, saying those once "extended by the Supreme Court over criminal charges" should not teach patriotism to the party, which has played a "stellar role" in freedom movement. Rahul himself attacked the BJP and RSS, saying they do not have respect for diversity of the nation's culture and wanted to control everyone's views. In a significant turn in the probe, Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi said police have so far found "no evidence linking the LeT" to the controversial event at the JNU to mark protest against hanging of Afzal Guru that triggered the crisis. The Delhi Police a few days ago had pinned a purported tweet of LeT founder Hafiz Saeed in an alert over Twitter asking students not to get carried away by anti-India rhetoric. On Sunday, Home Minister Rajnath Singh had claimed that the JNU event had the backing of Saeed that set off a storm of protests from the Opposition. He justified the arrest of Kumar, claiming that he had raised anti-national slogans during the event. On the ground, the JNU students on Monday boycotted classes while teachers decided to follow suit from tomorrow. The university also sent a status report to the HRD Ministry, saying eight students identified by them as shouting slogans at the event. But it is not clear from the the registrar's report whether Kanhaiya Kumar, the JNUSU President, who has been slapped with sedition charge, was among those who allegedly shouted anti-India slogans. Groups of lawyers attacked journalists, students and teachers of JNU and unidentified people in and outside the court dubbing them as anti-nationals. A Delhi BJP MLA O P Sharma, who happened to be in the complex, also joined a group of lawyers in beating up a person, identified as CPI activist Ameeque Jamai, who was taken to Tuglaq Road police station.