New Delhi: The Delhi Police Friday named nine students, including JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh, in connection with the violence that took place on the campus Sunday night and circumstances that led to it.
While no one has been detained so far, the police will send notices to the students and call them for questioning regarding the violence, DCP (Crime) Joy Tirkey said at a press conference.
Photographs of the identified students, procured from a screengrab of CCTV footage and social media platforms, have also been released.
The police also talked about a WhatsApp group — ‘Unity against Left’ — and is probing its alleged involvement in the violence. Yogendra Bhardwaj is the admin of the group, said the police. While Bhardwaj is believed to be a member of the ABVP, the police did not confirm his affiliation.
The police specifically named Left-backed student outfits during the press conference, but did not make any mention of the ABVP.
The nine students named by the police are — Chunchun Kumar, Pankaj Mishra, Aishe Ghosh, Waskar Vijay, Sucheta Talukdar, Priya Ranjan, Dolan Sawant, Yogendra Bhardwaj and Vikas Patel.
Ghosh is a member of the AISA. While Kumar, Mishra and Talukdar are also members of Left-affiliated outfits, the affiliation of other students couldn’t be ascertained.
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Violence linked to fee hike protest
The Delhi Police, as did the JNU administration, linked the Sunday violence to the ongoing fee hike protest in the university, which started in October last year.
The police said the members of Left student outfits, who have been protesting against the fee hike, hampered the semester exam registration process.
“Students belonging to the Left groups had been protesting on the campus since October and were preventing students who wanted to register, from doing so,” said Tirkey.
They also linked the Sunday incident to the events that took place on the campus on 3 January and 4 January.
“On 3 January, students from (Left affiliated) AISF, SFI, DSF and AISA entered the server room on JNU campus at 1 pm and broke down the system, heckled the staff and shut the servers. Students who were trying to register were hassled because of the shutdown and, hence, JNU police complained to us,” Tirkey said.
Case of assault, criminal intimidation registered
The DCP said a case of assault, criminal intimidation and damage to public property has been registered.
“On 4 January as well, some miscreants entered the server room and damaged the server again. On 5 January, some students who wanted to register for the semester were sitting on a bench in the campus when some people came there and a scuffle ensued between them,” said the DCP.
“Some security staff members tried to save the students but they were also injured in the scuffle. Later, at around 3.45 pm members of the Left (outfits) attacked specific rooms in Periyar hostel. Their faces were muffled (covered) but we could identify some of them. (JNUSU) President Aishe Ghosh was also involved in the hostel attack,” Tirkey added.
Later in the evening of 5 January, the DCP said, there was a teachers’ meeting taking place in front of Sabarmati hostel when a group of masked people came and attacked the teachers and the students.
“The same people went to Sabarmati hostel and targeted specific rooms there as well,” Tirkey said.
The officer, however, clarified this is just a preliminary finding of their investigation and more facts will emerge in the days to come.
The DCP also hinted at the involvement of students, and not outsiders, in the Sunday violence. “The JNU campus is so big and complicated, how can outsiders enter the campus and know all the routes and target specific rooms? This has to be the job of insider elements.”
The Delhi Police is taking help of CCTV footage collected from the campus and accounts of various witnesses for its investigation. They are also looking at social media platforms and videos of the incidents made available to them by various sources.
Also read: 3 JNU profs move Delhi HC to preserve CCTV footage, digital evidence from Sunday’s violence