RTI reply dents JNU's claim: Biometric systems, CCTV cameras weren't vandalized on Jan 3

NEW DELHI: An RTI reply to a query sought by Saurav Das, a member of the National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI), under the "life and liberty" clause, has cleared some doubts over what transpired at JNU campus on January 5.

The JNU administration had earlier claimed in an FIR that some students had entered the Centre for Information System (CIS) office and turned off the power supply. They had also damaged the server which had affected the functioning of biometric systems and CCTV cameras.

The RTI reply states that the Centre for Information System (CIS) was shut down on January 3 and had gone down the next day "due to power supply disruption."

"None of the CCTV cameras were vandalized from December 30, 2019 to January 8, 2020," the varsity, in its response to the RTI, said, according to media reports.

The RTI reply also revealed that servers of CCTV cameras are located in the data centre and not at the CIS office.

Many students and teachers were severely injured in a direct confrontation between scores of masked goons and JNU students in Delhi on January 5. In videos circulating widely, masked goons wielding batons and rods can be seen entering hostels and engaging in vandalism. Left-leaning students of the University have claimed members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) behind the attacks. The latter obviously denied the claims. Those injured were rushed to AIIMS with many being admitted to the trauma centre and ICU for treatment.

Aishe Ghosh, JNU students’ union president from the Students’ Federation of India, was brutally beaten up. “I have been brutally attacked by goons wearing masks. I have been bleeding. I was brutally beaten up,” she had told reporters. She was taken to AIIMS.

Soon after the incident, politicians from various political parties visited the hospital to meet those injured.

Later, Delhi Police had 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.

Also Read: Police file FIR on JNU violence against unknown persons

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