JNU: Students injured in scuffle over ‘Ram Navmi pooja’, ‘non-veg food’

Students said the violence broke out around 7:30 pm. While police said six students were injured, Left activists alleged the number was 50-60, while ABVP claimed it was 15-20, including 8-10 members of the outfit. Visuals emerged from the campus showing a student with a bloodied forehead, another with injuries on his back, and a third with a bleeding palm.

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Tensions had begun simmering in the campus since around 4 pm. According to Left activists, it began with ABVP students allegedly trying to stop non-vegetarian food from being cooked in the hostel mess. “Every Sunday, both non-vegetarian and vegetarian food is cooked in all hostels. This is the usual practice. ABVP students were having some event near Kaveri hostel and when the vendor came to deliver chicken, they stopped him. They harassed and heckled both him and the mess secretary, saying that a havan is being held and non-vegetarian food can’t be cooked,” claimed Anagha Pradeep, councillor, JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU).

Students of JNU Protesting at Vasant Kunj Police station after violence in the campus on Sunday. (Express photo by Gajendra Yadav)

ABVP activists however claimed non-vegetarian food was not an issue. “Common students of JNU were conducting a Ram Navami havan in the Kaveri hostel but the Leftists wanted to bring discord and came to prevent it from happening and stop people from joining. It was supposed to start at 3:30 pm but could only start by 5 pm because of the ruckus. No one objected to non-vegetarian food, this controversy has been created as a cover… An iftar party and the havan were taking place simultaneously in the hostel with no issues,” claimed Umesh Ajmeera, secretary ABVP-JNU.

When spoke to Dean of Students Sudheer Pratap Singh at 7 pm, a little before the violence broke out, he had said: “The students’ mess committees decide what is to be cooked and the administration has no role in this. There was no formal complaint but I got a call and spoke to the warden and we had said let what has come be cooked, we have no issues. The issue has been resolved.”

Students of JNU Protesting at Vasant Kunj Police station after violence in the campus on Sunday. (Express photo by Gajendra Yadav)

In the meantime, the Kaveri hostel mess committee – a student-run body which determines the menu – wrote the Dean of Students in the evening asking for intervention from the administration.

“Today, a group of people arbitrarily asked the meal manager not to cook non-veg (chicken) food for which he complied without informing the hostel and mess committee. The vendor who came to deliver chicken was verbally abused, threatened and manhandled. Students from outside of Kaveri hostel assaulted hostel committee members. The situation continues to be tense and we request immediate restoration of normalcy, which includes the pre-decided dinner menu of Kaveri hostel,” read their letter.

Kaveri hostel mess warden Gopal Ram said the matter was being inquired into. “We are investigating what exactly happened and we will give information at the appropriate time… Wardens don’t have any role to play in deciding the menu. The mess committee decides it, and it is a fixed menu. We are trying to figure out if there was any regarding serving non-veg food,” he said.

However, the tension soon spiralled into violence, with both student camps alleging that the other side began pelting stones and flower pots in the evening.

Students of JNU Protesting at Vasant Kunj Police station after violence in the campus on Sunday. (Express photo by Gajendra Yadav)

SFI activist Harendra Seshama said he was among those who were injured. “The violence started when dinner started being served around 7:30 pm. ABVP activists had lathis, bricks and sweepers in their hands. When they saw non-veg being served for dinner, they got aggressive and started beating students up. I was hit with a lathi repeatedly,” he alleged.

Akhtarista Ansari, an MA Sociology student, was taken to AIIMS Trauma Centre after receiving an injury to her forehead. “Around 8 pm, as the situation was getting violent and the ABVP was pelting stones, she received a blow to her forehead. Since there was so much commotion, we couldn’t see what exactly hit her. We immediately brought her to AIIMS in an auto,” claimed Ruderaksh Baigra, another student.

Students of JNU Protesting at Vasant Kunj Police station after violence in the campus on Sunday. (Express photo by Gajendra Yadav)

ABVP activists also said they were also injured. “They planned for it and escalated it. The students had organised a peaceful puja, and an iftar party was also happening. As it got dark, they wanted to inflict violence. Our joint secretary’s finger was broken. Another activist had a flower pot broken on his head,” alleged ABVP national media coordinator Siddharth Yadav.

JNU vice-chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi’s phone was switched off on Sunday night.

DCP Southwest Manoj C said the situation had become peaceful by 9:45 pm, by which time police were on campus. “Both the student parties are protesting peacefully. Appropriate legal action will be taken as per the complaints. We entered the premises after we got permission from the JNU administration; allegations of police inaction are false,” he said.

The last major incident of violence in JNU had taken place on January 5, 2020 when around 100 masked persons had gone on a rampage with sticks and rods inside the university for around four hours on January 5, leaving 36 students, teachers and staff – including JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh – injured. An FIR had been registered but no arrests were made.