JNU Protest: Delhi Police Denies Using Water Cannons, Teargas, Lathicharge Against Students

While the protesting JNU students alleged on Monday that they were baton-charged as they marched towards Parliament, the police denied the allegation levelled against them. In a statement, the Delhi Police said it did not use force against the protesting Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students.

"There was no use of water cannons, tear gas shells or lathi-charge at any stage of the protest. Women staff were deployed in adequate numbers to deal with female protesters. Apart from 10 companies of CAPF, around 800 Delhi Police personnel were deployed to handle the protest and ensure maintenance of law and order," it said.

The protesters released photos, alleging that physically-challenged students were among those injured in the lathi-charge.

They alleged that Shashi Bhushan Samad, a visually-challenged councillor of the JNUSU, was brutally beaten up by the police and he was admitted to the AIIMS Trauma Centre, where his condition was stated to be critical. The protesters alleged that other physically challenged students were also beaten up brutally.

They were sitting peacefully at Jor Bagh, waiting for the detained JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) members to join them, the protesters said. They alleged that the police turned off all the streetlights and started lathi-charge for the third time. The police chased the students for a kilometre till the INA metro station, they claimed, adding that even the teachers who had come to Jor Bagh to meet the injured students were lathicharged.

Earlier, the police urged the protesting JNU students not to take law in their hands and to maintain peace as thousands of agitators continued with their march to Parliament. A large number of students gathered at the university in the morning to march towards Parliament and irrespective of the appeals by the police, forced their way through by breaking the first line of barricades, the statement said.

Senior police officers persuaded them not to continue with the march since a high-powered committee was already formed to look into their demands, it added. Most of the students seemed convinced, but one group suddenly broke away and somehow managed to proceed towards the New Delhi area through Aurobindo Marg.

They were stopped at the Safdarjung Tomb, near Jor Bagh, at the border of New Delhi district, the police said. Around 100 students were detained for showing an aggressive defiance to the directions of the police. They were released in the evening, the police said.