SEDITION ROW
Indian student attacked in court
AFP
An Indian student leader arrested on a controversial sedition charge was attacked on Wednesday as police brought him into court, in a case that has sparked mass protests and exposed deep divisions, reports AFP.
An AFP correspondent saw men inside the court set upon Kanhaiya Kumar, who was arrested on Friday over a rally at Delhis prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University where anti-India slogans were chanted.
Indias Supreme Court, which had directed Delhi police to ensure the safety of all inside the lower court following an earlier outbreak of violence, ordered an immediate halt to the proceedings and dispatched a team of lawyers to assess the situation.
The arrest of the 32-year-old student union leader has sparked a major row over freedom of expression in India, where some rights campaigners say the Hindu nationalist government is using the British-era sedition law to clamp down on dissent.
Sedition carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and convictions are rare.
Kumar denies he was among those chanting anti-India slogans at last Tuesdays rally to mark the 2013 hanging of Kashmiri separatist Mohammed Afzal Guru over a deadly 2001 attack on the Indian parliament.
Hundreds of police were deployed at the Patiala House court in Delhi ahead of Kumars appearance, after students, academics and journalists were attacked when they turned out to see him on Monday.
Television footage showed chaotic scenes as a frightened-looking Kumar was dragged inside by police, some carrying riot shields.
A large group outside the court, who appeared to be lawyers and carried Indian flags, chanted Down with Kanhaiya Kumar. Some threw stones at journalists.
