Four students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University claim that they were allegedly beaten up by another group of students and a hostel warden on February 15. The assaulted students allege that they were beaten up by students belonging to the university's ABVP unit and a faculty member, who is also the warden of a hostel in JNU.
While the incident was condemned by all the other major student organisations and the JNU Teachers' Association (JNUTA), the ABVP has denied all the claims. According to Mritunjay Yadav, a fourth-year PhD scholar who was allegedly beaten up, the scuffle emerged after another student Mahesh Meena complained to the warden about the unavailability of rotis in the mess. "This did not go well. After the complaint, he was constantly threatened by the warden and the members of the ABVP," says Yadav.
The faculty member is part of the JNU Teachers' Federation, another teachers' organisation. He is also said to be part of the ABVP. "The trouble intensified on Sunday after a few ABVP members knocked on Mahesh's door. While he refused to open the door, they vandalised everything outside the room. The next day, along with a couple of other students, I had gone to talk to the warden," says Yadav. "That was when the professor, along with six ABVP members, started thrashing us," he says. He added that he had lodged a complaint with the police about the same, however, the police haven't registered an FIR yet.
Commenting on the issue, the JNU ABVP President Shivam Chaurasia said that no such event took place on February 15. "This is just a cry for attention by a few students. Now that the students are back on campus, we would want them to concentrate on their studies."
We were unable to reach the professor for comment. We will update the copy when it responds.
