Prashant Bhushan attacked for his Kashmir remarks

Team Anna member and senior advocate Prashant Bhushan was roundly thrashed on Wednesday… kicked in his chest, slapped, dragged by the feet, thrown about like a sack of wheat and pulled by the scruff of the neck by a young man who claimed the advocate had supported a call for a referendum on Kashmir.

The man identified as Inder Verma was with two others of a group called Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena (BSKS), which claimed responsibility for the assault on Twitter (Bhushan, however, said they belonged to the Sri Ram Sene), where the “president” of the group gloated over the success of the attack, which has been condemned by one and all, including Anna Hazare, who demanded temporary protection for Bhushan.

The assault took place around 4pm inside Bhushan’s chamber near the Supreme Court while he was giving an interview to a channel. The three men stormed in and one of them started thrashing him. Caught on camera, the attack was brutal, swift, sudden, and humiliating, too. Bhushan was caught totally unawares. The pummelling that he got was intense and totally complete, a hammering that beat belief.

An aide intervened but the attacker sent him flying with a well-aimed-timed jab to the face and continued bashing the mild-mannered senior advocate, who had become a well-known face on television screens after Hazare threw his weight behind civil society for a strong Lokpal Bill.

Verma was overpowered and roughed up by other lawyers who heard the commotion and rushed in. They grabbed Verma — a clean cut, well-built youth, skewed in his thoughts and indiscreet in the choice of friends — took him into another chamber and roughed him up. Quid pro quo! By then Bhushan had called 100 and soon the police walked in to take charge of a profusely bleeding Verma, who refused to be cowed down.   

He kept up his harangue, which when he was taking Bhushan to task was “Kashmir dega, Kashmir dega kya”.  

Bhushan lodged an FIR right at the spot, his chamber in the Supreme Court. Two other accused - Tejinder Pal Singh Bagga and Vishnu - were on the run. The police have now registered cases against Verma and the other two under sections 452 (trespassing), 323 (causing hurt) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.

But even as Verma was on his way to the cop house, Bagga was tweeting to the world that he will “give his arrest” on Thursday. “I will give my arrest tomorrow. Desh Ko Todne Ki Maang Karne Walon Ke Saath Aage Bhi Yahi Kia Jayega (Similar treatment would be meted to those advocating nation’s division),” Bagga posted on his Twitter account.

Before the attack he had tweeted, “God give us power to complete our mission”. Soon after the attack, Bagga claimed responsibility with the tweet “he try to break my Nation,i try to break his head. Hisab chukta. Congrats to all. operation Prashant Bhushan successful. We hit prashant bhushan hard in his chamber in supreme court. If u will try to break my nation, I will break your heads”.

Hooliganism is nothing new to Bagga’s organisation. The group had targeted Arundhati Roy for her remarks on Kashmir a few months ago. Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani was given a similar reception. Bhushan, who has filed several public interest cases, including in the 2G spectrum scam case, had supported a call for referendum in Kashmir in response to a question in Varanasi two weeks ago.

Bhushan was taken to the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital in New Delhi for a medical examination from where he went to his Noida residence. Later in the evening, Bhushan narrated the incident to media.

“The attackers claimed to be members of Sri Ram Sene which is known for goondaism and for unprovoked assault on unarmed people. This is their trademark. This is an organisation which needs to be banned by the government,” he said. “I wish to tell everyone that none of Sri Ram Sene people should be assaulted. Violence is not the answer to violence. There will be legal proceedings against them. Police is taking action against them.” Fellow Jan Lokpal Bill activist Kiran Bedi was of the same view.