http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/One-of-them-said-bone-bhi-todenge-phone-bhi-todenge/articleshow/51001849.cms
‘One of them said, bone bhi todenge, phone bhi todenge’ Sana Shakil | TNN | Feb 16, 2016, 12.35 AM IST [Video] NEW DELHI: As a reporter covering proceedings at the Patiala House courts, I thought Monday would be a regular day's work, with perhaps the hearing in the sedition case against JNU students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar being the day's highlight. As usual I made small talk with some of my sources there. I didn't sense anything extraordinary, and remained unperturbed even when I overheard a lawyer telling one of my sources that there would be some "hungama" at the complex, taking it to be the inanity of a boastful lawyer. A few hours later, limbs paralyzed by fear, shocked and reduced to tears, desperately searching for a safe nook with fellow journalists -- mostly women - I realized how foolish I had been to take the morning's remark so lightly. For more than an hour and half on Monday, we, the members of the media, were at the mercy of lawyers who threatened us crudely, physically assaulted some of us and freely abused us for being "anti-national". The first sign of trouble came around 2pm when we saw women teachers of JNU being manhandled in the courtroom where the sedition case was to be heard. Two JNU students were also beaten by lawyers in full sight of complaisant police personnel. The violent methods adopted by the men in black forced the people from JNU to vacate the room. The agitators' attention then turned to us. We thought our press ID cards would guarantee us safety, but of course that wasn't to be. A journalist who sported a beard was called a traitor and his ID dismissed as fake by the assailants; I was told that I looked like a JNU student and was abused harshly for looking at my attackers in the eye. The frenzied lawyers threatened to teach us, "deshdrohi (traitorous) journalists", a lesson. "Bone bhi todenge aur phone bhi todenge, (We will break your phones as well as your bones," rasped an angry advocate. From my five-year experience of legal reporting, I thought things would be fine once the judge emerged from his chamber. But even as the pro-BJP/anti-JNU slogans got more raucous, the judge did not make an appearance. Instead, corralled by them, we continued to be tortured physically and mentally. By now the number of assailants had gone up from the initial 40 to around 200. Fisticuffs broke out when a journalist took out his phone to record a clip of lawyers hurling abuses at us. I was shoved around but kept hoping that things wouldn't get out of hand. Then a cold fright took hold of me as I saw some lawyers locking up four journalists inside the courtroom. They kicked and punched them in front of my eyes and all I could do was stand by helpless. A group of us pleaded to the unmoved cops to intervene, an action that only enraged the lawyers, who began shouting, "Agli baari tumhari hai (The next turn is yours)." Four of us, all women, were advised by the female cops to "understand the mood and go away". We thought the senior most judicial officer of the Patiala House Court, the district judge, would be able to help us. We ran the few metres from where we were to the district judge's court and asked the staff there to get us an appointment with the judge, only to be told that he was "sitting with a very senior cop" and could not come out. A mob of around eight chased us, forced their entry into the district judge's court and surrounded us on all sides. They snatched our phones and checked the devices for videos and photos. They made menacing gestures, but finally relented when the court staff requested them to leave us alone. The horror finally ended around 3.45pm when we managed to escape the court premises from the rear gate, which was the only one open, the other more frequently used ones all blocked by the agitated lawyers. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
