"The JNU administration strongly condemns any form of violence in the campus," the statement read.
The Jawaharlal Nehru University has strongly condemned the violence on campus on Sunday evening, in which "masked miscreants" carrying sticks and rods went on a rampage in hostel rooms. In a statement, signed by the University's Registrar and tweeted by the Vice Chancellor Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, JNU says the clash was triggered by students opposing the semester registration.
Following is the full text of the JNU's statement on the violence on campus:
It is unfortunate that violence took place in JNU campus this evening. The JNU administration strongly condemns any form of violence in the campus.
From 1 January 2020, the Winter semester registration was going on smoothly. However, on 3rd January, a group of students opposing the registration process entered the Communication and Information Services (CIS) premises, covering their faces with masks and forcibly evicted the technical staff and made the servers dysfunctional. This led to the discontinuation of the registration process on 3rd January. However, on 4th January morning, the technical staff again made the CIS functional. Immediately, thousands of students started registering by paying the new hostel room rent. A group of students who are bent upon stopping the registration process, again entered the CIS premises with a criminal intent to make the servers dysfunctional. They damaged the power supplies, broke the optical fibres and made the servers dysfunctional again on 4th January around 1 PM disrupting the registration process. A police complaint was again filed against the miscreants.
For the past few days, the group of agitating students also closed the building of some Schools preventing the non agitating students, staff and the faculty members. On 5th January, when the students who have registered in the winter semester wanted to enter these school buildings, they were physically prevented by the agitating students. Since the 5th January afternoon, the campus has witnessed scuffles at the Schools as well as inside the hostel premises between the groups of students who wanted to stop the registration and those who wanted to register and continue their studies.
Around 4.30 PM, a group of students, who are against the registration process moved aggressively from the front of the admin block and reached the hostels. The administration immediately contacted the Police to come quickly and maintain law and order on the campus. However, by the time police came, the students who are for the registration were beaten up by a group of agitating students opposing the registration.
Some masked miscreants also entered the Periyar hostel rooms and attacked the students with sticks and rods. Some of the security guards doing duties at these places were also badly injured.
During the last couple of weeks, these agitating students also vandalized the admin block and ransacked the office of the Vice Chancellor for which a few police complaints were filed.
It is unfortunate that a group of students with their violent means of protests are preventing thousands of non-agitating students from pursuing their academic activities. The JNU administration stands by every students who wants to continue their academic programs peacefully in the campus.
The JNU administration feels great pain and anguish for the students who have sustained injuries in this violence. JNU is always known for peaceful and democratic protests. JNU administration will not tolerate any form of violence on the campus. A police complaint is being filed to bring the culprits to book. The violators of University rules who are trying to disrupt the peaceful academic atmosphere of the campus will not be spared.
JNU administration appeals to all the stakeholders of the University to maintain peace in the campus and do not get provoked by any misinformation.