Arrested JNU Student 'Terrorised', Say Lawyers To Supreme Court

New Delhi: Some of the country's most senior lawyers have said that they witnessed "an unprecedented atmosphere of fear and terrorising" at the Delhi court where arrested JNU student Kanhaiya Kumar was brought today from jail.

Violence erupted at the court - just as it had on Monday - before Mr Kumar's arrival. Lawyers chanting nationalist slogans barged into the compound and threw stones at reporters outside, in defiance of this morning's Supreme Court order banning protests and asking for highly controlled access to the court complex.
 As pictures of the rioting lawyers were televised, the Supreme Court rushed senior lawyers including Kapil Sibal and Prashant Bhushan to investigate the violence which by then included Mr Kumar being punched on his way into court.

The lawyers reported to the Supreme Court that there was "a crowd of a proportion we haven't seen," that the police had failed to control the situation, and that Mr Kumar, who is 28,  told them he was "terrorised."  
 The lawyers said they were subjected to "an endless stream of abuse... had it not been for our police escort we would have been beaten black and blue."

Mr Kumar was arrested last week after a rally at Jawaharlal Nehru University or JNU held to commemorate the anniversary of the execution of Mohammad Afzal Guru for his role in an attack on Parliament in 2001. He has denied making anti-India remarks as alleged by the government.