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‘Couldn’t provide security’: Warden of JNU hostel resigns over campus violence
The administration has condemned the violence but said it was the students agitating against hostel fee hike who engaged in violence.
A senior warden of one of the hostels of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) resigned for failing to provide security to the students on Monday, a day after more than 20 people were injured in the unprecedented violence unleashed by a mob of masked people.
R Meena, the warden of Sabarmati hostel, said in his resignation letter “we tried but couldn’t provide security to hostel”.
Sabarmati, Mahi Mandvi and Periyar hostels were attacked by masked persons on Sunday evening. The mob of masked persons entered the hostel, and attacked students and professors with sticks and rods during a meeting called by JNU Teachers’ Association on the issue of violence on campus.
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Video footage aired by some TV channels showed a group of men, who were brandishing hockey sticks and rods, moving around a building.
The day after, there is uneasy calm in the university and a tight security ring thrown around by the police to prevent any untoward activity. JNU Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar has appealed to the students of JNU to maintain peace.
“Would like to appeal to all the JNU students to maintain peace. The University stands by all the students to facilitate their pursuit of academic activities. We will ensure that their winter semester registration will take place without any hindrance,” he said on Twitter.
The administration has condemned the violence but said it was the students agitating against hostel fee hike who engaged in violence.
The Left-backed JNU students’ union (JNUSU) and many students alleged that members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, attacked them.
The ABVP has refuted the charges, saying members of the Left parties led the violence.
