New Delhi: The largescale violence at the Patiala House court where JNUSU president Kanahiya Kumar was produced was the result of "police collusion," senior advocate Rajeev Dhawan, a member of the apex court-appointed six-member committee which had visited the court complex, said Thursday.
"I have no difficulty in my mind about there being a police collusion. As we went inside, we were told that somebody who was barred entry into Patiala House by the Supreme Court, had a free walk. Registrar General of the High Court asked the police to stop that man and arrest him. But the cops did not. If this is not collusion, I don't know what is," he said.
Dhawan, who had taken a stock of the ground situation of the violence-hit Patiala House, alleged that the attackers
were shielded by the police.
In an apparent reference to Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi and criticising him for arresting Kanhaiya Kumar on
charge of sedition, he said police cannot discharge their duty if they are protecting people "politically".
"Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi talks of anti-nationals. He must realise that the immunity he has given to all these people is anti-national. Police have a duty, but as long as they are protecting people politically, that duty will never be discharged.
"You have a Police Commissioner here and it is his duty to make sure that people who indulge in such hooliganism are brought to book. There is a layer of immunity that has been provided by politics and police," Dhawan said.
"Even the Police Commissioner does not understand the offence of sedition. Kanhaiya Kumar should not have been arrested for sedition. When he asked for 'azadi' (freedom), it was 'azadi' from hunger, poverty, social injustice," he said.
Narrating the horrifying experience while visiting Patiala House court, the senior lawyer said, "Even with the cordon around us, I was pushed. How did it happen? I understand the problems of police but they did not perform their duty."
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