JNU Student Kanhaiya Kumar's Parents Get Police Protection

Patna: The parents of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar were on Thursday provided police protection in their village in Bihar.

Security forces have been deployed at Mr Kumar's native village Bihat in Begusarai district after he was assaulted in a Delhi court on Wednesday.

"Some police officers in plain clothes have been deployed outside his home, where his parents and other members of the family live. It is being done for security purposes after Kanhaiya was attacked and badly beaten in the premises of a court in Delhi," a district police official said.

Mr Kumar faces sedition charges for allegedly raising anti-national slogans at an event in JNU last week, a charge he has denied. He was arrested by the Delhi Police on February 12.
 On Wednesday, he was assaulted by a group of lawyers at the court which sent him to judicial custody till March 2.

Hours after the assault on Mr Kumar, Bihar Police headquarters alerted Begusarai authorities and directed them to increase security at his native village.

Kanhaiya's mother, Meena Devi, an Anganwadi worker who earns Rs. 3,500 per month, said she had learnt about the arrest of her son on television.

"I hope police does not beat him too much. He has never disrespected his parents, forget the country. Please do not call my son a terrorist. He cannot be one," she had said.

Mr Kumar's father had earlier said that his son is not "anti-national". "My son is not anti-national. He is a nationalist like the hundreds of thousands of youth of his age," he said.