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When masked men and women with sticks bled students, staff at JNU campus
JNU students agitating against hostel fee hike over the past few months, were subjected to violence when an unidentified mob attacked them. With no adequate response from the University authorities, here’s what you need to know.
A mob wearing masks and carrying sticks barged into the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus on Sunday and attacked students and teachers, prompting protests across the country.
At least 23 students and teachers were injured in the attack, which the Left-back JNU students’ union (JNUSU) blamed on the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
The students’ group affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has denied the charges.
Here is what happened on Sunday?
As a part of the ongoing agitation against a substantial increase of the hostel fee, JNU teachers had called for a march on the campus at 4pm. Around two hours later, teachers and students said a mob of people entered the campus raising provocative slogans and were armed with sticks and rods with their faces covered. The masked individuals also entered hostels and went around knocking on rooms.
“The mob entered after JNUTA’s march ended and they were speaking to students around Sabarmati,” said PhD student Abdul, who saw the event unfold before him. “They were shouting religious slogans and randomly started beating anyone they could lay their hands on. I ran away from there to save my life,” he said.
How many injured?
At least 23 people were brought to the Trauma Centre at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) with injuries ranging from head wounds to lacerations, cuts, and bruises.
The injured include JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh who was seen with a bleeding head and professor Sucharita Sen who teaches at the School of Social Sciences.
Since it was a Sunday, hospital authorities said they couldn’t cope with the influx and had to ask for help.
What did the administration say?
While condemning violence, the administration said it was the students agitating against hostel fee hike who engaged in violence.
“Around 4.30 pm Sunday, a group of students, who are against the registration process moved aggressively from the front of the admin block and reached the hostels. The administration immediately contacted the Police to come quickly and maintain law and order on the campus,” registrar Pramod Kumar said in a statement.
“Since the Sunday afternoon, the campus has witnessed scuffles at the schools as well as inside the hostel premises between the groups of students who wanted to stop the registration and those who wanted to register and continue their studies.”
VC M Jagadesh Kumar said the administration’s top priority is to protect academic interests of students and it would ensure that semester registration takes place without hindrance.
What does ABVP say?
While the students’ union on campus accused them of the violence, ABVP has denied the allegations and blamed the Left-led groups instead.
“The secretary of ABVP JNU unit and ABVP’s JNUSU presidential candidate (2019-2020) Manish Jangid has been severely injured and left with a fractured hand and many ABVP activists have suffered head injuries,” ABVP said.
The group also added that the Left activists attacked students who wanted to register for the upcoming semester.
Protests against the violence
Hundreds came to the old Delhi Police headquarter at ITO to demonstrate against the force alleging it did not take timely action to prevent the violence.
Since then protests against the JNU violence have swept through many cities, including Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Raipur, etc, across the country. Delhi School of Social Work and Delhi University have also called for a demonstration.
