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Journalism of Courage
With lawyers at Patiala House Courts ready to assault him, police had to dress JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar as an officer of the anti-riot cell so they could escort him from the courtroom to the lockup on Wednesday. To mislead lawyers, about 30 police officers too dressed up in anti-riot gear, sources said.
Kanhaiya and the police officers dressed like him were then loaded into five police vans stationed outside the court complex. The vans split into two groups: two headed towards India Gate, and three towards Bhagwan Das Road. Kanhaiya was in the first van heading towards Bhagwan Das Road.
Kanhaiya’s van stopped at Windsor Place, where several escort vans joined the convoy heading towards Tihar Jail.
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Trouble started when lawyers tried to stop police from taking Kanhaiya out of the courtroom. It took two hours — between 5 pm and 7 pm — for police officers to escort him to the court’s lockup.
“The lawyers were carrying stones. They planned to attack Kumar as we took him out of the courtroom. There were about 100 of them,” a police officer who escorted Kanhaiya told The Indian Express.
Joint commissioners of police M K Meena and R S Krishnia tried to pacify the crowd and also spoke to judges and senior lawyers to find a way out, said a source. Since they did not have anti-riot gear at their disposal, it had to be brought in from New Delhi District.
Kanhaiya then changed his clothes and was given a helmet and baton in his hand. Surrounded by seven policemen, he was taken to the court lockup. A source said lawyers were unable to identify Kumar.
At 6.50 pm, four DCPs and Deputy Commissioner of Police (third battalion) S K Tiwari, who reached along with 80 police personnel of the third battalion, finalised the plan to take Kanhaiya to prison. The van finally left the court lockup at 7.45 pm.
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