New Delhi:
A 22-year-old student remains critical a day after her classmate attacked her with a cleaver, stabbing her repeatedly outside their classroom at Delhi's prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University before slitting his own throat.
Roshni, a third year student of Korean at JNU's School of Languages, was attacked by her friend Akash after an argument on Wednesday morning as other students watched helplessly.
Akash hit Roshni on the head and then stabbed her again and again on the neck with the cleaver, inflicting serious injuries. Akash, who had earlier taken rat poison, then slit his own throat with the cleaver. He died of poisoning. The injury to his throat was superficial.
Roshni, who is being treated at the Safdarjung hospital, has had two surgeries since yesterday. Doctors said her condition had improved but she's still critical and in ICU.
Other students who witnessed the incident said Akash had brandished a gun and threatened to shoot when they tried to help a badly wounded Roshni. Some claimed that he did pull the trigger but the country-made pistol did not shoot.
A student said, "Akash was very disturbed. He had a country-made gun and threatened students. He was not allowing us to enter the classroom, but we managed to enter. He injured himself before we could do anything."
Both Akash and Roshni lived in hostels on campus. The police are trying to find out why Akash attacked Roshni. They are also investigating how he managed to get the weapons to class.
Shocked students at JNU have demanded better security, asking how a student could walk into one of India's top educational institutions armed with a gun and cleaver.