JNU today: The education ministry called the attack "highly condemnable" (file)
Highlights
- Amit Shah has ordered an enquiry into the violence
- "Acts of violence and anarchy" will not be tolerated: Education ministry
- Several students including JNU students' union president injured
Union Minister Amit Shah spoke to Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik on Sunday, after a mob of masked goons barged into the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus and attacked students and teachers. The home ministry, in a tweet, said the officer has been instructed to take "necessary action".
"Union Home Minister has spoken to Delhi Police Commissioner over JNU violence and instructed him to take necessary action. Hon'ble minister has also ordered an enquiry to be carried out by a Joint CP level officer and asked for a report to be submitted as soon as possible," the home ministry tweeted.
The education ministry called the attack "highly condemnable", and said such "acts of violence and anarchy" will not be tolerated.
"It has come to the Ministry's notice that a group of masked people entered the JNU campus today, threw stones, damaged property and attacked students. This is very unfortunate and highly condemnable, such acts of violence and anarchy will not be tolerated," the ministry tweeted from its official handle.
Eyewitnesses said the 50-odd goons entered the campus around 6.30 pm and launched an attack on students and teachers with sticks and stones. Several students and teachers have sustained injuries in the attack.
JNU students' union president Aishe Ghosh, who was hit on the head, was taken to AIIMS for treatment. "I have been brutally attacked by goons wearing masks," she told reporters. She was "singled out and hit on her head by men who entered the university campus with the blessing of the guards, the administration and the police," a tweet from JNUSU read.
The JNUSU has blamed the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) - a student group linked to the BJP- for the attack. "These are unknown ABVP goons, not all are students, they have covered their faces," a tweet said.
The ABVP said their members were "brutally attacked by students affiliated to leftist student organizations SFI, AISA and DSF". "Around 25 students have been seriously injured in this attack and there is no information as to the whereabouts of 11 students. Many ABVP members are being attacked in hostels and the hostels are being vandalized by the leftist goons (sic)," the ABVP tweet said.
Union Ministers S Jaishankar and Nirmala Sitharaman - both JNU alumni - have condemned the "violence".
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has also condemned the attack, claiming "the fascists" were in control of the nation.
"The brutal attack on JNU students and teachers by masked thugs, that has left many seriously injured, is shocking. The fascists in control of our nation, are afraid of the voices of our brave students. Today's violence in JNU is a reflection of that fear," he tweeted.