New Delhi: Twenty-four hours after masked men went on a rampage inside Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), leaving 31 students, two faculties and two guards injured, Delhi police are yet to make a single arrest in the case.
The police are tight lipped on how roughly 100 people were able to run riot inside the JNU campus for close to three hours — between 6 pm and 9 pm — despite the first phone call to the police control room being made at 4.57 pm Sunday.
JNU Students’ Union president Aishe Ghosh, who was among the injured and received 16 stitches for her wounds at AIIMS, alleged it was an organised attack, and some “RSS-affiliated professors” were promoting the violence. Vice-president of the union, Saket Moon, alleged the students’ body called up police for two hours but did not get any help.
“It was an organised attack. They were singling out people and attacking. There is a clear nexus of JNU administration, security police and the ABVP vandals. They did not intervene to stop violence,” Ghosh told reporters. “For last four-five days, some RSS-affiliated professors were promoting violence to break our movement. Are we wrong to ask for safety from JNU and Delhi Police?”
Eyewitnesses to the Sunday attack and many of those injured claimed that the men belonged to the ABVP, a charge the RSS-affiliated student outfit denied.
While Ghosh said she sent a text message to a senior police officer about “students being beaten up in the University” at 3 pm Sunday, DCP (Southwest) Devender Arya said, “The first PCR call was made at 4.57 pm from Periyar hostel.”
Both teachers and students injured in the violence said no one from the JNU administration had reached out to check on them.
Sabarmati Hostel, which saw maximum property damage in the attack, saw the resignation of its Senior Warden and Warden (Recreation), who said they had put in their papers as they were not able to ensure the safety of students. The administration did not confirm if their resignation had been accepted.
The campus Monday also saw a press conference called by the JNU Teachers’ Association, which reiterated its demand for the removal of the V-C and said a judicial or judiciary-monitored probe in the incident should take place.