E-Paper
Cops spoke of Periyar hostel, but students say Sabarmati saw the most violence
New Delhi: Sabarmati Hostel, the epicentre of the violence on the JNU campus last Sunday, stood mostly empty and silent on Friday with a majority of hostellers
New Delhi: Sabarmati Hostel, the epicentre of the violence on the JNU campus last Sunday, stood mostly empty and silent on Friday with a majority of hostellers leaving their rooms for their home towns in the aftermath of the mob attack that left several students injured.
While Delhi Police Friday spoke at length about the violence in Periyar Hostel, students say it was Sabarmati hostel that bore the brunt of the violence and was vandalised more.
Sabarmati hostel president Monika Bishnoi said, “While not many at the hostel sustained severe physical injuries, most of our rooms were vandalised to a large extent. The glass panel on the main door was completely shattered — goons entered rooms and broke everything inside.”
Videos shared on social media by hostel inmates showed masked men entering the hostel and vandalising the premises apart from assaulting students. Jyoti Kumari, a postgraduate student of Russian Studies and an inmate of Sabarmati hostel, was among those injured after she was hit with a brick by the attackers.
“I came out of the room on hearing the commotion and saw them charging towards the girls’ wing. We soon gathered and made a human chain. I started making a video and was attacked with stones for that. They were also waving sticks at us threateningly. It was terrifying,” she said.
Anuradha Singh, an MPhil student who was visiting her friend at Sabarmati hostel, said she and at least 15 others had locked themselves in the balcony of her friend’s room on hearing the screams of students. She said they could also hear the goons smashing the glass panes.
“My friend’s mother was also in the city for her medical treatment and was caught in the midst of the violence. They are now insisting that my friend leave the campus at least for a while. Such was the extent of terror in Sabarmati on Sunday evening,” Singh said.
Acting president of the Periyar Hostel, Indra Prakash, said they, too, spent the night in terror after the masked attackers left their campus around late Sunday evening. “The mob pushed the guard, vandalised the guard room, and broke their table before attacking the people inside. They broke open the mess and did some mischief with the prepared food there and later proceeded to barge into at least eight rooms of hostellers,” he said.
When asked which rooms were damaged the most, Prakash said, “Room no. 5 — its latch was broken and the door had the imprint of a shoe, suggesting that it was kicked open.” He added that students in a few rooms were badly beaten up. However, none was available for comment.
