Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday spoke to Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and requested him to call representatives from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) to hold talks after Sunday’s violence at the campus.
The Union minister had spoken to the chief of the Delhi Police commissioner Amulya Patnaik on Sunday and instructed him to take necessary action.
The home ministry had said in a tweet that Amit Shah has ordered an enquiry to be carried out by an officer of the joint commissioner of police level and asked for a report to be submitted as soon as possible.
“We have taken cognizance of yesterday’s JNU violence and have registered an FIR. Social media and CCTV footage will be part of the investigation,” deputy commissioner of police (southwest), Devendra Arya, was quoted as saying by ANI on Monday.
Groups of masked men and women armed with sticks and rods stormed JNU on Sunday evening and attacked students and teachers, triggering waves of condemnation and protests across the country.
Videos and television visuals showed the mob in jeans and shirts, with strips of cloth covering their faces, vandalise hostel rooms and common areas, hurl stones and hit students with sticks on the south Delhi campus.
At least 23 students and teachers were admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) with injuries from the violence that began around 6pm after a demonstration against hikes in hostel and academic fees.
The Left-backed JNU students’ union (JNUSU) and many students alleged that members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, attacked them.
The ABVP has refuted charges and in turn, accused members of the Left parties of leading the violence.
Police have registered a first information report in connection with the violence but no arrests have been made as yet.
Police, which initially refused to enter the campus as the mob rampaged inside, went inside a little after 9pm, almost three hours after the violence first erupted.
They said it entered the campus after getting a request and permission from the JNU administration. They said a fight broke out between two student groups who “vandalised hostels and indulged in violence”.
Tension has been simmering on the campus for almost two months because of a stand-off over a proposed fee hike, which, in some cases, meant that a pupil would be paying 30 times the current amount.
The agitating students, led by the JNUSU, had also called for a boycott of the ongoing registration process of new students.
The university administration has blamed students protesting against the fee hike for the violence.
Political parties and leaders have condemned the violence and traded charges.
