JNUSU questions police inaction on campus, says ABVP attacked women on Jan 4

The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) has raised questions about the fairness and impartiality of investigation conducted by the Delhi police in the Jan 5 violence on the varsity campus.

JNUSU vice president Saket Moon said that ABVP activists first attacked students on January 4 and then on January 5. They attacked several more students.

“The ABVP members hit women students first on January 4. Then when JNUSU general secretary Satish Chandra Yadav intervened, they attacked him as well. Two ABVP members, Sarvender and Om Prakash, along with Sandip Kumar Singh, a former student and currently an ad hoc faculty at Delhi University attacked an activist Vivek Pandey, the video of which was shared by Prasar Bharti on Twitter with the caption that the Left students were the attackers," Moon pointed out.

Then, the JNU Vice Chancellor retweeted that image with the caption that the Left-affiliated members were the attackers.

“This is nothing but a lie and an attempt to justify the attack,” underscored Moon and pointed towards Vivek Pandey who was a part of the press conference. Attackers targeted specific rooms in Sabarmati Hostel, but did not touch the room of ABVP activists, added Moon.

Pointing towards police inaction, Moon said the police had been informed about the presence of a violent mob on the University campus, but they ignored the messages and chose to stay silent.

The JNUSU highlighted that despite there being evidence all over social media about the involvement of ABVP “goons” in the Sunday attack, the police did not name a single student representative of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) affiliated ABVP. “The Delhi Police press conference was held so as to protect ABVP,” said JNUSU.

Countering the allegations of the administration that the protesting students attacked the servers, JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh said the registration process had continued. “If the servers had been damaged, it couldn’t have continued,” said Ghosh.

At a press conference on Saturday, the JNUSU showed a few videos where Aishe Ghosh was targeted by the ABVP mob. “This happened between 6.30 pm-7.30 pm when the lights went off and the masked assailants attacked the students. The video shows the JNUSU president being targeted,” said JNUSU.

Questioning where the CCTV footages were, Ghosh said, “When the student Najeeb went missing, they said they will not be able to trace him as there were no CCTV cameras on campus. Now, there is. So, why is the administration not showing any of those footages.”

She also questioned why the policemen in plainclothes did not do their duty. “They have been on campus since December 1 as requested by the administration. Why did they have no information about the attack and why did they stay silent later,” questioned Ghosh.

While asking all the students to pay the registration fees, Ghosh said they would not pay the hostel fees and would continue fighting until the fees are reversed.