Students, Teachers Attacked by Lawyers, BJP at Delhi Court as Tensions Mount at JNU

The JNU campus has been sealed off as ABVP and RSS protestors gathered outside.

New Delhi: Ahead of JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar being produced at the Patiala House court, around 40 lawyers started shouting anti-JNU slogans demanding that university faculty present inside the court in support of Kumar leave the premises. Some lawyers as well as BJP and ABVP leaders also allegedly manhandled JNU teachers and students, as well as mediapersons present at the court.

Tense atmosphere at JNU

Earlier in the day, tensions were running high at university, with a large number of RSS and ABVP activists gathering outside the campus gates. Protestors on motorbikes waving Indian flags and inflammatory posters against “anti-national” students and “supporters of Afzal Guru” have been circling the campus periphery. Additional police battalions have been sent to the campus and the gates have been sealed to all outsiders.

Students, faculty and staff had collected at the administrative block. While JNUSU had called for a university strike today demanding Kumar’s release, ABVP members on campus are against the strike and the withdrawal of police from campus. With both JNUSU and ABVP gathered at the administrative block, the atmosphere was tense. The former general secretary of the CPI(M), Prakash Karat, was on campus to address the striking students.

JNUSA back ABVP

The JNU Staff Association (JNUSA) has come out in support of the ABVP, calling for the proper punishment of “anti-national” elements. When some individuals from the staff tried to speak in favour of the JNUSU position, other staff members allegedly pushed them out and did not allow them to speak.

Kumar is to be produced at the Patiala Court this afternoon. Fearing violence from those labelling him “an enemy of the country”, police presence at the court will be extremely high. Many JNU students are planning to be at the court to in a show of support for Kumar, who has now been in police custody for three days. ABVP protestors are also likely to be at the venue.