Fear and terror in Patiala Court, senior lawyers tell Supreme Court

New Delhi: A team of senior lawyers set up by the Supreme Court to report to it on the situation in the Patiala House courts where JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar was produced on Wednesday, said there was "complete breakdown of law and order" and an atmosphere of "fear and terror" prevailed there and the police did not act.

"There is a serious threat to the life and safety of the accused (Kanhaiya) and this police will be unable to save him," the five-member team of lawyers said giving an oral ground report to the apex court.

They said they too bore the brunt of the people in lawyers' robes who gave them "the choicest of the abuses and tried to hurt them by throwing sharp-edged flower pots and water bottles".

Stating that visuals of the events were filmed by one of them using mobile phone, the lawyers said "this particular atmosphere is unprecedented. Police did not do their job".

"The crowd broke the cordon and threw water bottles and sharp-edged flower pots on us. This is broadly the report," they said.

The committee had rushed to the Patiala House court after being directed by the apex court.

It was Rajeev Dhawan, who started giving an account of the panel's visit to the Patiala House Court to a bench of Justices J Chelameswar and AM Sapre, saying he had never seen the crowd of such a proportion as witnessed there and termed it as "an unprecedented situation".

Dushyant Dave joined him saying the atmosphere was surcharged and of "fear and terror".

Dhawan said they had spoken to Kanhaiya Kumar who said he was attacked and beaten on his way to the court room and inside, a man in dark spectacles, not in lawyers' dress, had gone near the accused, asked him something and hit him. This man also sat in the court room later, he added.

"How did he get inside the court room when there was a specific order of this court? When the accused asked the police to stop him, no action was taken," Dhawan said.