Police Name Aishe Ghosh, Others For Attack At JNU Hostel
NEW DELHI : The Delhi police on friday held a press conference and exposed how mostly the Left students were involved in the violence in JNU. The Delhi police revealed names of 9 suspects and 4 Left organisations. Police released their circled photographs to the media.The 9 suspect list included Leftist JNUSU President Aishe Ghosh and 2 alleged ABVP students.
However, India Today, after the Delhi Police press conference started airing their own ‘investigation’ of the JNU violence, the first two parts of which implicated 2 ABVP students. The IndiaToday sting claimed that the person identified as an ABVP activist had orchestrated the violence in Sabarmati hostel of JNU.
He had also claimed that the violence in Sabarmati hostel was in retaliation to the Left unleashed violence in Periyar hostel. Interestingly, both the alleged ABVP activists identified by India Today were first year students. Now, the saffron student wing of BJP the ABVP has issued a statement saying that the person identified as an ABVP member by IndiaToday is not an ABVP member at all.
Focusing on clashes that took place on the campus before Sunday over increased hostel fees, Police officials named Aishe Ghosh, Chunchun Kumar, Pankaj Mishra, Waskar Vijay, Sucheta Talukdar, Priya Ranjan, Dolan Sawant, Yogendra Bhardwaj and Vikas Patel. The last two, Yogendra Bhardwaj and Vikas Patel, are said to be members of the BJP-linked Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad or ABVP.
Addressing a press conference, senior police officer Joy Tirkey, who is probing the case, said a majority of the students wanted to register for the winter semester from January 1 to 5, but the left students’ groups were not allowing them to do so. Members of Left groups attacked the server room at JNU to stop online registrations and enforce a strike over their protest against the increased fees, said the officer.
Hours after the attack, a large group of masked people armed with iron rods and sledge-hammers entered the campus and attacked students and teachers. Aishe Ghosh was among those who suffered a head wound. None of the attackers were stopped or arrested, even though several policemen were on campus at the time.
The police admitted that it was facing difficulty in identifying those responsible for the attack on the Sunday and cited the lack of security footage, authenticated video recordings and witnesses.
The police official said that no suspect had been detained yet but the process of interrogation of suspects would begin soon. Three cases have been registered till now, and they are being investigated by us, the SIT chief said. Addressing the media Tirkey also released images of the suspects.
Aishe Ghosh, speaking to the media around the same time as the police, denied any role in the violence and accused the police of blatant bias. She said she had gone to the scene to stop the violence. “I was not wearing any masks, I have done no wrong… I still have my blood soaked clothes,” she said.
The police claims were seized by members of the ruling BJP as vindication, with two union ministers targeting the Left.
