Delhi Police reject charges of reaching JNU late, says entered campus at 7.45pm
s the Delhi Police battles accusations of staying silent as violence gripped JNU, officers have now said that Delhi Police entered JNU premises in a timely manner.
The Delhi Police rejected the charge of reaching the Jawaharlal Nehru University late despite several pleas by students’ unions, asserting that they responded to PCR calls and law-and-order situation professionally to control the violence on the campus.
Holding a press conference, Delhi Police PRO MS Randhawa said, “We have responded to PCR calls, and law-and-order situation professionally.”
Delhi Police claimed that the JNU administration requested the police to intervene at approximately 7.45 pm (nearly four hours after the violence first broke) after which a flag march was conducted in the campus premises.
FOLLOW LIVE UPDATES ON JNU VIOLENCE HERE
The Delhi Police also said it will be constituting a fact-finding team to ascertain the events that transpired in Jawaharlal Nehru University on Sunday night.
FACT FINDING TEAM FORMED
“A committee has been formed under the Joint Commissioner of Police, for fact-finding and to avoid any delay in investigation and inquiry”.
Delhi Police PRO, MS Randhawa on #JNUViolence: FIR has been lodged in the matter. Investigation is underway. Footage is being collected. Total 34 persons were injured and all 34 have been discharged from AIIMS Trauma Centre. pic.twitter.com/ESj5BAk6R4ANI (@ANI) January 6, 2020
Delhi Police PRO Mandeep Randhawa added that the police has already found some evidence regarding Sunday’s attack on JNU. “We have found some vital clues and we are trying that the case is solved soon,” he said
Talking about the action taken by Delhi Police so far, Randhawa said that three FIRs had been registered earlier and now a fourth FIR has been filed in the incident which saw masked assailants enter JNU and thrash up students and teachers.
Randhawa also described the sequence of events that took place on Sunday night. He said the violence broke out in JNU in three phases on Sunday — first at the Periyar Hostel at 4 pm where Left students clashed with ABVP, then at 6 pm at a peace march by JNUTA and violence finally escalated between 6.30 and 7 pm.
He also added that 34 people had been injured in the JNU violence, all of whom were discharged by Monday.
Violence broke out at the JNU on Sunday night as masked men armed with sticks and rods attacked students and teachers and damaged property on the campus, prompting the administration to call in the police which conducted a flag march. At least 28 people, including JNU Students’ Union president Aishe Ghosh, were injured as chaos reigned on the campus for nearly two hours.
Eyewitnesses alleged the attackers entered the JNU premises when a meeting was being held by JNU Teachers’ Association on the issue of violence on campus and assaulted students and professors. They also barged into three hostels. Video footage showed a group of men, who were brandishing hockey sticks and rods, moving around a building.
The Left-controlled JNUSU and the RSS-backed ABVP blamed each other for the incident.
