JNU attack: CCTV footage was not available because of the damaged server at the university
The Delhi High Court has issued notices to WhatsApp, Google, Facebook and Apple Inc on a petition seeking preservation of data including CCTV footage, WhatsApp messages, relevant data and information relating to the January 5 violence that took at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). The court has also sought responses from Delhi Police and the state government.
Delhi Police told the court that they had sought footage of 135 CCTV cameras installed across the 1,000-acre campus.
Three JNU professors - Ameet Parameswaran, Shukla Sawant and Atul Sood - had sought necessary directions to the Delhi Police Commissioner and the Delhi government.
The case will be heard again tomorrow.
The professors want relevant data of WhatsApp groups ''Unity against Left'' and ''Friends of RSS'' retrieved. The data includes messages, pictures, videos and phone numbers of the members, in connection with the violence at JNU last Sunday.
The court was told by Delhi government Standing Counsel (criminal) Rahul Mehra today that the police has not yet received any response from the university administration.
On the evening of January 5, a mob of masked men stormed the campus and targeted students in three hostels. No arrests have been made so far in the case that left at least 34 injured in a horrifying attack that lasted over 3 hours. The FIR in the case is against unnamed persons.
However, two cases were filed against Aishe Ghosh, the chief of the JNU students' union, by the JNU administration on the day of the attack, while she was being treated at AIIMS for her injuries. Ms Ghosh says she was surrounded by 20-30 people, hit multiple times with an iron rod and even "physically molested" while sexual expletives were shouted at her.
CCTV footage was not available because of the damaged server at the university, ANI reported, post which crime branch took the entry register.
The violence at the university, whose students have been actively supporting the protesters against the amended Citizenship Act, triggered a furore across the country with celebrities to political parties condemning the attack.
(With inputs from PTI)