After the unruly scenes at Patiala House court on Monday when JNU students and faculty were assaulted by lawyers, JNU teacher Ayesha Kidwai has spoken out about the incident.
Kidwai says, “Many of us have not been sexually harassed by nationalists before, this happened to us. I have been touched by the nation so to speak."
She adds, "Escorted by the police, a bunch of lawyers came charging into the courtoom, telling us to clear out because we are ‘desh drohis’ and for making anti-national statements. This crowd just jammed the doors and they caught hold of faculty and started physically pushing them out.
“Rohith, our assistant professor from the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning was beaten. They were surrounded by lawyers. We were appealing to them and to the police that was watching and basically escorting the lawyers doing nothing because apparently the Constitution of India doesn’t apply to the Patiala House court.”
She said that they refused to leave without a police escort and at every exit, there was a bunch of howling nationalists asking what we were teaching our students.
Kidwai concludes by saying, “We understand this attack for what it is. We must all see this as one more provocation and we are all here standing, and we are ready to fight.”
Here is the video.