Crime Branch Has Found Some Vital Clue, We Are Working On It: Delhi Police On JNU Violence

The Delhi Police on Monday said its crime branch has found some vital clue on the JNU violence that took place allegedly between members of the JNUSU and ABVP, and it was working on it.

“An FIR has been lodged in the matter. Investigation is underway. Footage is being collected. A total of 34 persons were injured and all of them have been discharged from the AIIMS Trauma Centre,” said Delhi Police PRO MS Randhawa at a press conference.

“Normally, police deployment is only in the administration block, and the scuffle took place away from that area. Around 7:45 pm, we were requested by JNU administration, then we entered the University and carried out a flag march,” he said.

The attack on students and teachers at the Jawarharlal Nehru University by unidentified goons triggered protests across India on Monday as the clamour grew for the resignation of the vice chancellor who is being blamed for inaction during the violence that left 34 people injured.

As horrific first-person accounts emerged of the attack on Sunday evening, including on JNU students union president Aishe Ghosh, Delhi Police said no arrests have been made and that they have transferred the case to the Crime Branch, who claimed to have found "vital clues."

Politicians of all parties condemned the violence. The opposition and JNU students blamed the ABVP, the students' wing of the BJP for the violence, and accused the Delhi Police of inaction. The BJP said campuses should not become political battleground.

On Sunday, a mob of masked young people stormed the JNU campus in south Delhi and systematically targeted students in three hostels, unleashing mayhem with sticks, stones and iron rods, hitting inmates and breaking windows, furniture and personal belongings. They also attacked a women's hostel.

“I was specifically targeted on Sunday during a peace march on campus. Around 20-25 masked persons disrupted the march and attacked me with iron rods,” union president Ghosh, her head swathed in bandages, told PTI after being released from hospital earlier Monday.

She received at least 15 stitches on the head, and her arm was in a cast after the attack.

The ABVP has denied being responsible, and in turn, has blamed Ghosh's Left-supported union of stage managing the violence. It also claimed that many of its activists were injured, but has not presented any to the media.