Biometrics, CCTVs were not vandalised: RTI counters JNU claim

New Delhi: Biometric systems and CCTVs at the server room were not vandalised in the first week of January, contrary to the claims made by the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration that students had destroyed them on January 3, the varsity has said in an RTI reply. It said the main server of JNU at the Centre for Information System (CIS) was shut down on January 3 and had gone down the next day "due to power supply disruption."

It stated that "no continuous and entire" CCTV footage of cameras installed at North/Main gate of the JNU campus from 3 pm to 11 pm on January 5 was available, the day when masked men had entered the campus and attacked students and teachers with iron rods and sledgehammers.

The JNU administration, in an FIR, had claimed that on January 3, a group of students wearing masks had forcibly entered the CIS and switched off the power supply, making the servers dysfunctional, thereby affecting a range functions, including CCTV surveillance, biometric attendance and Internet services.