As judicial proceedings ahead of JNU students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar’s production in court took an ugly turn, eyewitnesses termed it a ‘black day’ in India’s democracy. This came after a group of lawyers attacked onlookers and mediapersons in the courtroom ahead of the hearing. Speaking to mediapersons, Varun Chauhan, a friend of Kumar said, “We were all here and were peacefully waiting for him. There are six-seven lawyers here, who started telling people in the morning that we are Pakistan, and were hurling abuses referring to mothers and sisters. We were not saying anything to them…They also misbehaved with the JNU teachers present there. An activist of the CPM, Ameeque Jamei, said, “They were asking who the people were from CPM and JNU. They said, ‘Court tay nahi karegi, hum tay karenge ki deshdrohi kaun hai (We will decide, not the court, on who is anti-national). [caption id=“attachment_2628228” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Protests at JNU. AFP[/caption] JNU students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested over sedition charges in connection with an event on 9 February where JNU students were protesting against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. In an article in The Indian Express , its reporter Alok Singh recounted how he saw other students being roughed up at Patiala House court before he came under attack. According to him, the mob was attacking anyone who was ‘dressed like a JNU student.’ When he took out his phone to inform his colleagues about the attack, he was attacked by a mob which was claiming that he was shooting a video. Reacting to the incident, Congress spokesperson PC Chacko was quoted as saying by The Indian Express , “This hooliganism was unleashed by the BJP…They may be shouting patriotic slogans, but that is totally to misguide the people.” With inputs from agencies