Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: As the court remanded the three accused in Prashant Bhushan attack case to one day judicial custody, the right wing Sri Ram Sene activists, allegedly behind the assault, beat up Anna supporters including an elderly man who was punched and kicked in the face outside Patiala House court here on Thursday.
The elderly man, Rajkumar, was severely assaulted along with two other persons.
Rajkumar was repeatedly punched, dragged on the road before a jeans-clad youth rushed in and kicked him in the face.
"We were demonstrating to lodge our protest against yesterday`s attack on Bhushan. We had no intention to fight but these people came and roughed up. They kicked and slapped us," said one Anna`s supporters.
Rajkumar`s granddaughter was one of the two little girls who had helped Hazare break his 13-day anti-corruption fast at the Ram Lila Maidan in August.
The incident took place outside Gate No 2 of the Patiala Court complext at around 5 pm when the Sri Ram Sene activists were demanding the early release of the three accused Tejender Pal Singh Bagga, Vishnu Gupta and Inder Verma who assaulted the prominent Team Anna member in his chamber in the Supreme Court premises.
Anna supporters were registering their protest against yesterday’s assault on Bhushan and objected to sloganeering by Sri Ram Sene activists against Hazare.
Rajkumar and another injured person Mohd Shoufi were taken by the police to Ram Manohar Lohial Hospital.
The scuffle started when the Sene activists who were protesting outside the court premises suddenly turned violent as the news of judicial custody for the accused broke.
They also started thrashing Anna supporters present outside the court premises. A number of Anna supporters were injured in this fracas.
It should be noted that the Pramod Muthalik-headed right wing organisation Sri Ram Sene is infamous for its violent protests. On 24 January 2009, the Sri Ram Sene activists attacked girls in a pub in Mangalore.
A group of 40 activists of the Sri Rama Sena barged into the pub "Amnesia — The Lounge" and beat up a group of young women and men, claiming the women were violating traditional Indian values. Two of the women were hospitalized.
Meanwhile, Prashant Bhushan, who was assaulted by three youths yesterday for his alleged provocative remarks on Kashmir, called for banning such outfits which believe in violence.
“Organisations having a fascist mindset are on the rise. We should ban all such organizations which believe in violence as there could be no place for communalism in our society,” he said when questioned how he visualizes the rise of fascist tendencies in the country.
Meanwhile, an FIR has been lodged against the Sene activists late Thursday night.
