Thousands of Delhi University students took to the streets on Wednesday in support of JNU students and teachers, who were brutally beaten by masked attackers on Sunday, and also demanded the scrapping of the CAA-NRC-NPR regime.
As demands for bringing the masked perpetrators to justice continued, the stand-off in JNU is expected to continue with the Central government showing no indication of removing Vice-Chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar from the post as demanded by students.
Registration extended
A government statement claimed that “about 3,300 students” had registered for the upcoming winter semester, which is less than half of JNU’s total strength of 8,700 students. The date by which students can register has been extended till January 12 even as no exams have been held for the semester gone by.
Amartya Sen criticises police role in JNU violence, says CAA should be scrapped
The Delhi police continued to treat Sunday’s attack as a “clash” between two student groups, prompting JNUSU to tweet, “For the last time, what happened on Sunday night was no ‘clash’. It was a brutal attack, an assault, an act of terrorism on students and teachers assembled for a peace march. Such wording only goes on to obfuscate facts and distort the truth.” Till Wednesday night, the Delhi police had not identified any of the masked attackers or make any arrests. A police official told The Hindu that a total of 11 complaints had been received — seven “from the Left” and three from ABVP — but no fresh FIRs had been registered.
Aishe’s complaint
In her complaint, JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh, who suffered grievous head injuries, stated that she had been attacked by a mob of 20-30 persons, who used filthy language about her.
Aishe Ghosh files attempt to murder complaint with police
Ms. Ghosh said that she was hit on the head multiple times with iron rods. “I fell to the ground and my head started bleeding, and some of them kicked me and hit me with the rod on my hand and…head, chest and back.”
Ms. Ghosh said the ambulance carrying her and other students was not allowed to exit from the main (north) gate, which was totally blocked.
Ritu Raj, SHO Vasant Kunj North police station, along with 30-40 police personnel were present at the gate along with a number of goons and persons affiliated to the ABVP.
The JNUSU president said she came out of the ambulance to plead with the people to allow the vehicle to exit, but was abused by ABVP activist Onkar Srivastava, who also justified the attack on her.
“With great anguish and pain, I have to write that there were police personnel standing at the main gate but they remained mute spectators…eventually we were forced to…take the longer route to go through the east gate of JNU to reach AIIMS,” Ms. Ghosh’s complaint to the police added.
