Updated: November 19, 2020 7:12:18 am
View of the razed Sabarmati hostel of Jawaharlal Nehru University. (Express Photography: Tashi Tobgyal)
An inquiry committee of the Delhi police formed to “investigate the sequence of events” and the “negligence on the part of the local police” in relation to the violence on the campus of Jawaharlal Nehru University on 5 January, has given good news by force, is learned.
About 100 masked people had wreaked havoc with sticks and rods inside the university for about four hours on January 5, leaving 36 students, teachers and staff injured. An FIR was registered and the case was transferred to the Crimes Section, although no arrests have been made so far.
At the time, questions were raised as to why the police had stayed off campus even as violence erupted inside. This contrasts with the police action in Jamia Millia Islamia weeks earlier, in December, when the police stormed the campus and allegedly beat students inside the library. Police have claimed that while they had entered Jamia to pursue the rioters, they could not enter JNU without the consent of the university authorities.
Violence erupted at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Sunday night after a masked mob armed with sticks and bricks attacked students and teachers on campus.
A committee, headed by Joint Police Commissioner (Western Range) Shalini Singh, was formed on the instructions of the then Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik, and consisted of four inspectors and two ACPs.
During the investigation, the committee recorded the statements of the then DCP (Southwest) Devender Arya, the then ACP Ramesh Kakkar, SHO Vasant Kunj (North) Rituraj and Inspector Anand Yadav, who was stationed in the administrative block on the morning of January 5 . following the instructions of the Superior Court to deploy personnel to ensure that protests do not occur within a 100 meter radius of the block where the Vice Chancellor sits.
A senior police officer told The Indian Express that all police personnel gave similar statements while explaining the sequence of events from 8 a.m. on Jan. 5, when 27 plainclothes policemen, including women, arrived to work at the Administration Block of the JNU and relieved the night shift.
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“His job was to ensure compliance with the High Court order directing the police to make sure there is no dharna or protest within 100 meters of the administration block. All those police personnel had no weapons or lathis. The PCR call started at 2.30 pm and in total 23 calls were made from inside the campus to the police, ”said an officer.
In its report, the committee mentioned that eight PCR calls were made from 3:45 p.m. to 4:15 p.m., which were mainly related to beatings to students in the Periyar shelter. Subsequently, 14 PCR calls were made, on isolated incidents of fights and student meetings, from 4:15 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
“DCP Arya visited the campus together with her subordinates around 5-5.15pm, but returned to the main gate as the situation seemed normal at the time. Officials during the investigation also showed Vice Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar’s WhatsApp message, which was sent at 6.24 pm to Arya, the ACP and the SHO, asking them to stand at the gates. At 7.45 pm, Registrar Pramod Kumar delivered an official letter to the Delhi police, requesting a greater presence and deployment at the facility, ”said an officer.
The investigation committee, after recording their statements, concluded that the campus had been boiling during the day, but the situation was brought under control with police intervention, the officer added.
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