India / Police file FIR in JNU violence case; 23 hospitalised students discharged

“A mob came towards us and started pelting stones. We all ran, but they hit me with iron rods, bricks, and stones. This is the first time I have seen anything like this,” said Ameet Parameswaran, assistant professor at the School of Art and Aesthetics, who started his career in JNU. Like him, several students and teachers recounted how they were attacked by a group of masked men and women armed with sticks and bricks on campus.

Parameswaran was discharged late Sunday night from AIIMS Trauma Centre, where he and 22 others who were injured were admitted.

Students and teachers started to collect outside the emergency ward as soon as they heard the news about the violence.

By 11.33 pm, 23 injured persons were admitted at the centre, while three were admitted to Safdarjung Hospital. JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh and Prof Sucharita Sen suffered deep cuts on their foreheads and have been admitted for observation.

“Most of them have suffered lacerated wounds on the head due to stone pelting; others have sustained abrasions and swelling on hand and legs. One student and a professor have suffered deep cuts on their forehead. We have sent them for a CT scan,” said a senior doctor.

Meanwhile, harried students and teachers waited outside the hospital for the injured to be discharged.

Professor Shukla Sawant from the Department of Arts and Aesthetics said she saw the mob coming towards the teachers: “We were shell shocked because teachers being beaten is a bizarre thing. This mob was beating students with impunity. I got hit on my back with a stick and a stone. There was complete mayhem; the mob was breaking windows and furniture. They were all masked.”

Soon, the scene outside the hospital took a political tone as senior leaders began to gather and slogans were raised.

Some ABVP members outside the Trauma Centre got into a minor clash with guards after they allowed senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi to meet the injured. Other Congress leaders like Ajay Maken and Kiran Walia had to return as the argument between the two groups escalated. Supporters of Bhim Army also got into a scuffle with guards.

Other leaders such as BJP’s Manoj Tiwari, Vijay Goel, Meenakshi Lekhi, CPM’s Brinda Karat, Sitaram Yechury, AAP’s Sanjay Singh, Somnath Bharti and Congress’s Salman Khurshid also visited the hospital.