The Sabarmati hostel building at JNU was badly thrashed, with shattered glass and broken doors.
Highlights
- JNU's Sabarmati hostel building had shattered glass, broken doors
- Two students jumped off first floor to escape attackers, fractured legs
- Senior hostel warden quit saying they couldn't provide security
As a masked mob attacked students and teachers at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) with iron rods, sledgehammers and glass bottles on Sunday night, the Sabarmati hostel saw the worst of the attack. Two terrified students even jumped off the first floor to escape the attackers, fracturing their legs in the process. A senior hostel warden resigned on Monday, a day after with a handwritten note that read: "...couldn't provide security to hostel".
Sabarmati is one of the most prominent sites on the sprawling JNU campus, home to around 400 students. After the attack, the hostel building was badly thrashed, with shattered glass and broken doors, windows and furniture on every floor.
R Meena, the warden of Sabarmati hostel, wrote a short resignation letter addressed to the Dean of Students.
"Hereby I am informing you that I am resigning from the post of senior warden, Sabarmati hostel, because we tried but couldn't provide for security to the hostel," said the letter.
Warden's resignation letter addressed to the Dean of Students.
It was three hours of terror at JNU on Sunday evening as a large group with their faces masked and armed with iron rods, sledgehammers and bottles prowled the campus, going from hostel to hostel attacking students and teachers.
The mob roamed freely, without being stopped by the police, and helped by the street-lights conveniently going off.
Around 35 students and teachers were injured, including the chief of the JNU students' union Aishe Ghosh, whose bloodied face became the defining image of the campus attack.
JNU students have blamed the ABVP, a student group linked to the ruling BJP, for the attack. The ABVP and many BJP leaders have, in turn, accused Left-leaning students of the violence.
Sabarmati is one of the most prominent sites on the sprawling JNU campus.
In an appeal for peace, JNU Vice Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar today said the university "stands by all students to facilitate their pursuit of academic activities."
"We will ensure that their winter semester registration will take place without any hindrance. They need not fear about their process. The top priority of the University is to protect the academic interests of our students," said the Vice Chancellor.
The mob attack took place in the middle of a simmering agitation in JNU over a hostel fee hike.