Adding fuel to the controversy revolving around the arrest of a JNU student and the following attack by a group of lawyers on students and journalists, a lawyer who allegedly started the mob violence was reportedly felicitated by a lawyers' body in Delhi.
According to DNA, Vikram Singh Chauhan, who led the assault, was garlanded in Karkardooma Courts, to whose bar he belongs.
However, the Coordination Committee of all District Court Bar Associations has demanded a "fair" inquiry into the incidents and has claimed that certain “outsiders” in lawyers' robes perpetrated the violence.
The lawyers' association has denied felicitating Chauhan. Advocate RK Wadhwa, chairman of the committee, said in a press release they would request the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court to ensure that entry to the court premises should be monitored and security of judicial officers, lawyers and litigants be given "prime importance".
"We condemn the manner in which protestors/demonstrators were allowed to enter the Patiala House court complex. We condemn violence in any form which was the direct consequence of unverified entry of outsiders inside the court premises," he told PTI.
Claiming that he was being falsely accused, Chauhan earlier told NDTV: "Lawyers are also Indian citizens, how can anyone allow anti-India slogans or pro-Pakistan slogans being raised in India?" He also added that he was “leading a movement” that had found “resonance amongst lawyers across the country.”
Chauhan, who was caught on camera assaulting journalists and others in the court premises, was one of the three lawyers summoned by the Delhi police in connection with the 15 February attack.
The three lawyers, however, did not appear before the police.
#JNUrow: Mob-leading lawyer & #BJP aide Vikrant Chauhan felicitated,says JNU students dressed up as lawyers beat ppl pic.twitter.com/TsCEBmVK2A
— ABP News (@abpnewstv) February 19, 2016
Meanwhile in Karkardooma Courts, lawyers held a candle light march for national integrity and against "victimization" of lawyers.
Advocate Mahesh Sharma, President of Shahdara Bar Association, said, “Advocates are being shown in a bad light. They are termed as goons and criminals. It is wrong.”
(With agency inputs)
