JNU row: Sting video shows lawyers claiming they beat Kanhaiya
Om Sharma, Yashpal Singh and Vikram Chauhan, the three lawyers who had assaulted students and journalists inside Patiala House court complex, have been allegedly caught on tape boasting of thrashing JNU student leader Kanhaiya and threatening to use petrol bombs in a sting conducted by India Today channel.
Om Sharma, Yashpal Singh and Vikram Chauhan, the three lawyers who had assaulted students and journalists inside Patiala House court complex, have been allegedly caught on tape boasting of thrashing JNU student leader Kanhaiya and threatening to use petrol bombs in a sting conducted by India Today channel.
Though HT cannot vouch for the authenticity of the tape, Chauhan, who is yet to join police investigation, is seen in the tape saying that he thrashed Kanhaiya for three hours.
“We asked him to say ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai.’ We bashed him for three hours because of which he also wet his pants.”
One of the lawyers is also heard telling the channel’s correspondent to get a black coat and join the mob next time. He has also claimed that the police were supporting them.
Read: Lawyer who led the mob at Patiala House felicitated
When HT contacted Chauhan for his comment, he said it was a private conversation and he doesn’t know about the sting. “Hum aapas men baat kar rathe, kya unhone (the TV channel) pata nahin kya dekhaya.”
He said just like the Kanhaiya Kumar case, the sting video is not authentic .“101% hum challenge karen gey... Kan haiy ac hall engeka rs a kt a ha it oh Vikram bhi challenge kar sakta hai.”
Roughly translated, it means if Kanhaiya can challenge it, so can I.
Read: Standoff near JNU gates, cops await surrender of 5 ‘wanted’ students
In another footage showed by the channel, advocate Yashpal Singh is heard warning that he would thrash Kanhaiya again in the next hearing. “I will beat him again. I will also get a petrol bomb. I don’t care if I get booked in any case.
Even if I am charged with murder, I will take that in my stride,” he is heard saying on the tape.
Singh also said if he is arrested, he would want to be inside Kanhaiya’s cell so that he can thrash him, according to the news report.
“There were around 1,000 police personnel but they were also of the same opinion. They said, ‘we are wearing uniforms, else we would have also thrashed him’,” Singh was heard as saying.
He also claimed that when Kanhaiya was brought to the Patiala House court they thrashed him so hard that he soiled his pants. “Just get a black coat and white shirt and join us. I will ask 20 other people to join us too... We thrashed journalists and students and professors. If you want to live in this country, you cannot talk against the country. To tell the truth even the police was supporting us,” Singh could be heard saying in the video.
Delhi Police commissioner BS Bassi said, “Don’t pay any credence to claims made by these lawyers.”
Read: Why am I the villain, asks lawyer who led court attack
Full coverage: JNU in turmoil
