NEW DELHI: A day after the altercation between two groups of students at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), in which several were injured, the administration issued two statements on Monday and admitted that a ‘scuffle’ did take place.
It said that university has a zero-tolerance policy towards violence and asked the students to maintain peace and calm.
The scuffle took place on Sunday, when a group of pro-Left students alleged that students who support ABVP asked them not to have non-vegetarian food (chicken) that was being cooked in a hostel mess.
The right-wing students’ body countered that the pro-Left students objected to them holding a pooja on the occasion of Ram Navami.
JNU Registrar Ravikesh in a statement said that the hostel wardens have clarified there was “no bar” on serving non-vegetarian food. In another statement, he warned that the university will not tolerate “any form of violence.”
The statement asked the students to “refrain from any such incident that disturbs the peace and harmony” in campus.
“If anyone is found indulging in such actions, they will be liable for disciplinary action as per the university rules,” it read.
According to the registrar, Vice-Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandi has also asked the wardens to take immediate steps to avoid any confrontation. “Security has been instructed to be vigilant in preventing such incidents and submit a report to the JNU administration,” added the registrar.
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Delhi Police said it has registered an FIR against unknown ABVP members.
“We received a complaint from a group of students who are members of JNUSU, SFI, DSF and AISA against unknown ABVP students. Accordingly, we have registered an FIR under section 323/341/509/506/34 of Indian Penal Code. Investigation is on to collect factual, scientific evidence and identify the culprits,” said the police.
Also, around 50 SFI supporters protesting outside the police headquarters on Monday were detained.
While the JNU students union had filed a police complaint against the ABVP, the ABVP also filed a counter-complaint alleging that some students were trying to interrupt the pooja ceremony being held in the hostel premises.
the security guards on Monday were asking students to show their identity cards to enter the hostel.
According to a student, who did not wish to be identified, the security guards were even asking residents to show ID cards.
"A guest can enter the hostel without any bar till 11pm, but today they are asking guests for IDs and to enter their names in the register," he said.
Inside the hostel mess, a few shards of glass were lying on the floor, reminiscent of the incident that happened on Sunday night.
Behind the hostel mess, there is an open area where a tent was erected and a puja was performed on the occasion of Ram Navami.
The place still had the hawan kund' kept there.
Two groups of students on Sunday had clashed allegedly over the serving of non-vegetarian food in the hostel mess.
The JNU Students' Union (JNUSU), which is led by Left-affiliate outfits, has alleged that the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) supporters attacked the students while opposing the serving of non-vegetarian food in the Kaveri Hostel mess on the Hindu festival.
The ABVP, however, denied the charge and claimed that "Leftists" obstructed a 'puja' organised at the hostel on Ram Navami.
Both sides had accused each other of pelting stones and injuring their members.
Meanwhile, a student at the university, who was injured during the clashes on Sunday, alleged that ambulances were not allowed to enter the varsity campus and she had to take an auto to reach the hospital.
Several purported videos of the violence surfaced on social media, with one of them showing a student, Akhtarista Ansari, bleeding from the head.
Ansari who is pursuing Masters in sociology at JNU said that on Sunday, at about 8pm, when she got to know about the violence, she immediately rushed to Kaveri Hostel and saw that the "ABVP goons" were brutally attacking the students with stones and rods.
"Women students were sexually harassed by the ABVP members present there. I was attacked on my head with a heavy stone."
"Despite being injured, they did not allow the ambulance to enter inside. So, I took a backside route and hired an auto to reach the hospital," she alleged.
"I got myself treated at AIIMS and I sustained around four stitches to my head," she told reporters.
Prabhanshu Kajla, a PHD student who was also injured in the violence at Kaveri Hostel, said, "They (ABVP supporters) snatched phones of students and manhandled us.
Security guards were also attacked.
They beat me up once.
"I then rushed to Godavari dhaba, where they came in groups following me and thrashed me their again brutally. My friend Harender, who was coming from the other side, was also attacked with a wiper," he alleged.
He added that he received five-six stitches to different parts of the body.
Another victim who is a female from the RSS-affiliate ABVP alleged that she was attacked by a group when she was going to the library around 8 pm after the Ram Navami puja on the Kaveri lawn.
"Suddenly, some people started abusing me and they attacked me with knives, stones and sticks. They harassed me physically. When I opposed, they started beating me up and injured me in my right arm, back and legs," she alleged.
JNU's Kaveri Hostel mess representatives said Monday the menu is pre-decided and cannot be changed at the last moment "without the consent of hostel residents".
The JNU Students' Union, which is led by Left-affiliated outfits, and right-wing ABVP clashed with each other at the hostel on Sunday over the issue of non-vegetarian food being served on Ram Navami.
The JNUSU alleged that ABVP members attacked students and mess staff for serving non-vegetarian food on Ram Navami, while the RSS-affiliated student body said Leftist disrupted a puja in the hostel on the occasion of Ram Navami.
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) claimed on Monday that seven days ago there was a General Body Meeting (GBM) of Kaveri Hostel mess committee where it was "unanimously decided" that no non-vegetarian food will be cooked in the hostel mess on Sunday on the occasion of Ram Navami.
Rohit Kumar, ABVP JNU unit president, said Monday that seven days ago there was a General Body Meeting (GBM) of Kaveri Hostel mess committee where it was "unanimously decided" that no non-vegetarian food will be cooked in the hostel mess on Sunday on the occasion of Ram Navami.
"Muslim students were also in agreement with the decision. Three days back when the poster for Ram Navami puja was shared, students from the Left threatened to throw meat bones to disrupt the puja," he said.
Kaveri Hostel mess secretary Raghib denied the ABVP claim.
"For the GBM to happen, it is decided 24 hours prior to the meeting that it will be convened. There is a written document and it has signatures. Can they show that document?" he asked.
Former Kaveri Hostel president Navin Kumar said the mess menu is pre-decided and cannot be changed at the last moment.
"It can only be changed with the consent of the students," he added.
Kumar said that ABVP members were since 2 pm on Sunday trying to deny entry to a meat vendor, telling him that he won't be allowed to supply meat here.
"He was asked to go away and the warden, Dean of Students told students it is your own matter'.
It has been a norm that vegetarian and non-vegetarian food is prepared separately in the mess but they were trying to impose their food choice.
In the evening when the puja happened, everyone had the prasad and the iftar also happened peacefully without any disruption," he said.
Kumar said that from 7.30 pm to 9 pm, students come and eat in the mess every day.
"At 7.30 pm on Sunday, when students came and inquired about what they will eat, and as the warden thought about solving the issue, ABVP members came and they said 'we will not let you eat'. JNUSU came there to talk it out but the ABVP members attacked students," he alleged.
Raghib claimed that on April 9, the hostel warden had told him that no non-vegetarian should be served the next day, the day of Ram Navami.
"I asked him to give it in writing but he didn't do it. Later we asked the vendor to supply meat. When the vendor came, ABVP members closed the gate and told him that they won't allow him to supply meat and threatened to end his contract even in other hostels," he said.
Non-vegetarian food is served in the hostel mess on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday and the menu is pre-decided at the beginning of the month, he said.
Raghib, who said he is not affiliated with any political outfit, accused the ABVP of "politicising the issue".
"There are 400 students in the hostel and 170-180 of them eat non-vegetarian food. In the evening, ABVP members came and raised slogans like 'Hindustan mein rehna hai, toh Jai Shri Ram kehna hoga' (if you have to live in India, you have to raise slogan of Jai Shri Ram'," he said.
He also stressed that there was no permission taken for performing the puja, which the ABVP later claimed was disrupted by the Leftist.
In a statement issued on Monday, the university said that the mess is run by the student committee and the administration has nothing to do with their menu.
"The wardens clarified on the spot and issued a notice when the ruckus was going among students that there is no bar on serving non vegetarian food," the university said.
The warden issued a notice calling for peace and clarifying issues
(With PTI Inputs)