'Police Let Attacker Leave': Kanhaiya Kumar Recounts Court Violence In Video

New Delhi: JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar told a team of lawyers sent by the Supreme Court that the police allowed a man who attacked him at Delhi's Patiala House Court to walk away during the violence that broke out for the second time there last Wednesday.

In a video that was filmed by Haren Rawal, one of the lawyers sent for an assessment after the violence, , Mr Kumar states that he was assaulted while being brought in for his hearing. "I was punched, kicked, thrown to the ground," he says.

"A mob dressed like lawyers were waiting to attack me. I was brutally beaten up. Police who were escorting me were also thrashed," he says in the video. He says the attackers were "highly politically motivated".

But when he and a professor from JNU identified one of the attackers, the police did not stop the man and allowed him to leave, Mr Kumar says. "They just allowed him to walk away," he says.
 His voice catching, Mr Kumar also speaks about being painted as an "anti-national" by a section of the media. "I am citizen of this country, a PhD student, I study in JNU - and they are calling me a traitor," he said.

The JNU student union leader has been arrested on charges of sedition in connection with a controversial event on campus where anti-India slogans were raised. He denies the charges.

The violence at the court on February 15 and 17 drew widespread condemnation as lawyers were caught on camera beating Mr Kumar, students and teachers from JNU and journalists.

The incident had provoked the Supreme Court to rush six senior lawyers for a ground assessment. Yesterday, it issued notices to the Centre, Delhi Police and lawyers involved in the violence.

Delhi Police, which arrested BJP lawmaker OP Sharma and three lawyers before releasing them on bail immediately for the violence, has come under sharp criticism for its failure to prevent the attacks.