Students claim outsiders' involvement in violence

New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students and faculty on Monday pointed towards the involvement of "outsider elements" in the Sunday attack that rocked the university injuring many.

One Nupur, who lives in Koyna Hostel, claimed that from the behaviour of the masked mob, it was understood that the crowd had come from "outside". According to the Masters' student, as soon as the mob started beating up students and teachers near Sabarmati Hostel, where JNU Teachers Association (JNUTA) had called for a meeting, everyone started running in different directions. "The nearest hostel was Sabarmati, where most of the people ran. The miscreants looked like outsiders, because it was visible they didn't know much about the place," said Nupur.

Meanwhile, teachers claimed that the violence was organised and the target was someone else. "While they were beating one of the students, I heard one of them shouting 'this is not the person we are looking for, leave him'. This clearly shows a totally different picture," said a professor during the Press conference.

On Sunday evening, more than 50 people, including women, managed to enter the campus premises, where they vandalised Periyar and Sabarmati Hostel, beating up numerous students.

Speaking on the same issue, a student from Sabarmati, whose room was vandalised said, "This hostel contains some of the most active members of different student organisations, hence we believe this specific hostel was targeted."

Many students were seen with bandages as the mob used rods, stones, sticks and lathis to beat up both the students and the teachers. Professor at School of Social Sciences Atul Sood said the mob came in with a set target. "It is easy to distinguish a student from a teacher, hence we can say that teachers were also the target. Our cars were vandalised,"

he said.

The professor also said the students have informed that most of their rooms were "identified".

"So, clearly there is an organised pattern. This was definitely the work of the outsiders," said Professor Sood.