New Delhi – The Police have registered a criminal case against left-wing student leaders in connection with a weekend outbreak of violence in New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, officials said Tuesday.
Police have not identified or arrested any of the masked attackers who went on a rampage on the campus Sunday night and left 34 students and teachers injured.
A blame game erupted after the attack, with the JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) led by left-wing groups and right-wing students’ group Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad linked with ruling Bharatiya Janata Party blaming each other for the violence.
The police booked JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh and vice president Saket Moon and other students for allegedly vandalising the university server room and attacking security guards on Saturday, police officer Devender Arya said.
The case was registered after the university administration blamed left-wing students for initiating the attacks and triggering violence by blocking student registrations because of their opposition to a hike in hostel fees.
Opposition and student leaders have linked the main attack on Sunday to the Hindu nationalist government, saying the police remained mute spectators.
No suspect was yet arrested for Sunday’s attack.
But the fact that the police named Ghosh, who was injured in the violence, has raised questions about the impartiality of the probe.
JNU, traditionally a left-dominated campus, has been the stage of an escalating turf war between left and right-wing students ever since the current center-right government came to power in 2014.
Its students union has also been active in agitating against the government’s controversial citizenship law.
(dpa/NAN)
