JNUSU denies police theory, says they are speaking ABVP language
JNUSU members said that the Delhi Police’s preliminary investigation report was the same as the posts that ABVP members were sharing on social media.
A day after the Delhi Police named Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) president Aishe Ghosh as a suspect in the JNU violence case, she denied all allegations on Saturday.
On Friday, Delhi Police had released a blurred video grab in which they identified Ghosh standing among some masked people. They said she was part of the mob that attacked students inside Periyar hostel on January 5.
“I had gone there after receiving emergency calls from Periyar hostel residents that a masked mob had come there with lathis. There were no security personnel around the hostel at that time. It is the responsibility of elected students’ representative to not reach out to help them when there is no security,” Ghosh said on Saturday
The Delhi Police had also said there were two scuffles prior to the attack around 7pm on Sunday — one at around 11.30am when a few students (who wanted to register for the next semester) were attacked in front of the School of Social Sciences, and the second at around 3.45pm when some masked “students” attacked the Periyar hostel .
While the police named JNUSU members and sympathisers of resorting to violence in the first two incidents, they did not identify the group that carried out the evening attack in which many people were injured. The JNUSU had alleged that the RSS-affiliated students’ wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) was behind this attack.
On Saturday, JNUSU said that it was ABVP members who started the scuffle near the School of Social Science-II building. “We had informed the Delhi police at around 3pm about the presence of a masked mob in the campus. We have screenshots of Aishe’s conversation with police as well. But, the police did not turn up and let the ABVP members attack students,” said JNUSU vice president Saket Moon.
JNUSU members said that the Delhi Police’s preliminary investigation report was the same as the posts that ABVP members were sharing on social media.
“The police are saying that it has used the videos and photos that had gone viral. All of us know what the BJP IT cell does. The Delhi police is clearly speaking ABVP’s language,” Moon said.
Reacting to the allegations, DCP (crime branch) Joy Tirkey, who is heading the special investigation team in the case, said, “So far we have only been using the content that was shared on social media. We did not have CCTV footage from campus as the server room was damaged. No one who had himself or herself shot any video or pictures during the violence has approached us so far with any evidence. Therefore, content on social media is the only source we have to identify those involved in violence.”
Ghosh said that administration’s claims of not having CCTV footages because of “damaged server” were also false. “We have proof of administration’s sending official emails from the mailing group server on January 5. How can they send mails when their server is damaged?” she said.
Despite several attempts JNU Vice Chancellor and other officials did not respond to calls and texts for a comment.
JNUSU on Saturday alleged that several ABVP members, including its unit president Durgesh Kumar, and members of a newly-formed teachers’ group, JNU Teachers’ Federation (JNUTF), including Aswini Mohapatra and Tapan Bihari, had a role in Sunday’s incident.
However, when contacted, Kumar and Mohapatra denied the allegations. “I was in fact helping the students to register when the protesting students attacked me,” Mohapatra said. Bihari did not respond despite calls and texts.