Police file FIR on JNU violence against unknown persons

Violence in DELHI VaRsity

New Delhi: The Delhi Police on Monday registered a case of rioting and arson against unknown persons for damaging public property, as well as causing grievous hurt to students in the violence that occurred on Sunday night at the Centre-administered Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus here.

A senior Delhi Police officer also told IANS requesting anonymity that while they were trying to verify from the videos whether the masked attackers belong to the university or are outsiders, the police are also trying to identify those who called the PCR for help during the violence from the mobile phone numbers.

“We have registered the case on the basis of the PCR calls we received on Sunday evening,” the officer said.

“We received calls from 10-12 mobile numbers and we are trying to identify the callers from their mobile phones,” he said.

He also said the police will record the versions of the students who made the PCR calls and will try to understand how the violence was sparked off inside the campus.

“We are also trying to identify if the masked attackers were from JNU or were outsiders,” he said.

A case has currently been registered against the unknown persons, but after examining the CCTV footage, the police would name those involved in the attack and arson, he added.

When queried about the video footage, the officer said: “We have the videos recorded from mobile phones of several students and we are also collecting the CCTV footage to confirm the incident. Before that, we cannot comment on anything.” Earlier in the day, the JNU case was transferred to the Crime Branch. A Delhi Police team visited the varsity campus and collected the CCTV footage.

It turned a very violent Sunday in JNU as several masked persons entered the campus and thrashed students, including girls, as well as professors with wooden sticks and metal rods.

Following the violence, the police have deployed a heavy force around the campus and have also closed off the nearby Baba Gang Nath Marg for traffic.

Two officer-bearers of the JNU Students Union (JNUSU), including President Aishe Ghosh - who was reportedly hit over the eye with an iron rod - received severe injuries.

The students have accused RSS’ student wing ABVP of the violence on the campus.

Hostel rooms and lobbies were vandalized during the assault while several vehicles standing on the road were damaged by the unidentified miscreants.

The violence erupted after masked goons attacked a peace march taken out by teachers and students against the violence on the campus.

The ABVP, instead, blamed “left” oriented students of vandalizing the Periyar hostel and severely injuring hostel inmates. (IANS)

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