CCTV cameras were placed only at the main gate and the gates of the administration building.
Highlights
- No CCTVs to check claims of goons attacking students in hostels, say cops
- Police also deny accusations of switching off streetlights on the campus
- It's still unclear how the mob of 50-70 assailants entered the university
There are no closed-circuit television cameras at the hostels or elsewhere in campus of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, where students and teachers came under attack of masked goons last evening, the Delhi Police said. The cameras are located only at the main gate of the university and the gates of the administration building. While it might help investigate how the goons entered the campus and left, it would not verify students' claims that the goons had barged into the university hostels, beat them up and vandalised property.
The police, criticised heavily for failing to protect students and teachers from the attack, also denied they had anything to do with the switched off street lights. "The lights were off even before we came," an officer said.
The lack of street lights had played into the hands of the assailants, who had continued their attack under the cover of darkness. Besides teachers and students, activist Yogendra Yadav was also targetted and manhandled twice in course of the evening.
It is not clear when the 50-strong mob had slipped into the campus. But towards the evening, they were seen gathering, armed with sticks and iron bars.
The attack started soon after. "The mob threw huge stones and entered hostels," a professor, Atul Sood, had told NDTV. "These were not small stones, these were big stones that could have broken our skulls. I fell on the side and when I came out, I saw cars completely vandalised, including my car."
The attack went on for hours, unimpeded by police presence.
Students and faculty members of JNU alleged that the police personnel and private security guards on the campus remained "mute spectators" as the masked attackers run amok. They have also been accused of letting the attackers slip out.
The police inaction has set off allegations of complicity, with the students saying not only did the police fail to protect anyone, they had not been able to arrest a single culprit in course of the three-hour rampage.
The police said they have clubbed the individual complaints received after yesterday's violence and filed a single FIR (First Information Report).
"We are using the viral screen shots on social media and the CCTV footage to identify the attackers," senior police officer Devender Arya told NDTV.