Students pelt stones at police jeep

The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus turned into a battleground on Sunday with students fighting pitched battles with the police.

The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus turned into a battleground on Sunday with students fighting pitched battles with the police.

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Five policemen were injured and at least two students were hurt when the police used batons and teargas shells on the protesting students. Scores of students were taken into custody.

The incident spiralled out of control after four outsiders were caught boozing on the campus and molesting women around 2.30 pm on Sunday, the police said.

The drama continued for more than seven hours and senior officers rushed to the campus.

Around 2.30 p.m. on Sunday, four drunk men identified as Nitin Kapoor, Ankit Nanda, Amit Chauhan and Gagan Kumar, in their mid 20s, drove inside the campus in their Hyundai Accent car.

The accused live in Malviya Nagar and Laxmi Bai Nagar colony in south Delhi. One of them flashed a pistol to scare the security guard, which was later discovered to be a toy pistol, the police said.

The security personnel at the gate immediately flashed a wireless message and the main gates of the university were closed. The accused tried to flee in their car and drove towards the main gate but the students surrounded the car.

“When the police took the outsiders in custody, the students did not let us take them away. The police jeep was stuck there for four hours with the accused inside. They also deflated the tyres,” said a senior police officer on condition of anonymity.

Students alleged that the police were shielding the accused, as one of them was the son of a police officer.

Around 9 pm, the students starting pelting stones at the police jeep. Extra force had to be rushed to the scene to control the situation. The students also damaged the car of the accused and broke its windows.