Four persons try to 'attack' Kanhaiya during march

Four persons today allegedly tried to attack JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar in separate instances during a march here led by him demanding release of JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya.

While three persons hurled abuses at Kumar during his speech near Parliament Street police station and were whisked away by the police who perceived threat in connection with the matter, one managed to climb the truck over which Kumar was standing while addressing the gathering.

The moment the persons started shouting on Kanhaiya over his comments on security forces, the JNU students formed a human chain and raised an alarm. The fourth man managed to break the chain but he too was whisked away by police by the time he could reach Kumar.

“Four persons have been put under preventive detention in view of law and order issues,” a senior police official said.

While one of the four turned out to be a barber, another was a steward at a hotel. One was an insurance agent and the other a car dealer, a police official, said adding that they were released later in the evening.

Last week, Kumar was allegedly attacked inside the JNU campus by an outsider, who later turned out to be a Ghaziabad-based builder.

The attacker called Kumar for an interaction when he was attending the “nationalism” lecture at the varsity’s administration block and slapped him after a heated argument.

However, no official police complaint was lodged in connection with the incident.

On February 17, the day Kumar was presented at the Patiala House Court at the end of his police custody, a group of lawyers led a brazen attack on him.

Delhi Police was at the receiving end of severe criticism for its failure to provide security to the student leader.  After this incident, senior officials of the district were pulled up at the court.

Kumar, Khalid and Bhattacharya were arrested under charges of sedition and criminal conspiracy in connection with an event in JNU campus in which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised.

Khalid and Bhattacharya are currently in judicial custody.