A protest march by Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students took a violent turn on 18 October. What began as a peaceful demonstration against alleged violence by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) during the School of Social Sciences (SSS) General Body Meeting (GBM) descended into chaos, leaving several students injured and 28 detained by the police.
With the upcoming JNUSU elections, a series of GBMs were being held across different schools. During the SSS GBM on Wednesday, a clash broke out between ABVP members and students from other organisations. According to student accounts, even JNUSU president Nitish Kumar was assaulted and held hostage for hours. Along with him, the General Secretary and other students were subjected to casteist slurs such as “Reservation leke aya hai.”
JNUSU General Secretary Munteha Fatima and several others were also targeted with Islamophobic remarks, being called “ISI agents.”
On 18 October, JNUSU called for students to gather at Sabarmati T-point and march towards the Paschimabad Gate and later to the police station to lodge an FIR over the earlier incident. They demanded that the FIR be registered under the SC/ST Act. However, when the students reached the gate, they were met with police barricades.
According to students, when they tried to move past the barricades, the police began to assault them.
“The situation quickly descended into chaos. There were a lot of people near the Paschimabad Gate. It was difficult to tell who was police and who was not, as many were in civilian clothes. They started beating students and putting them in vans,” said one student.
An MA second-year student from the Centre for the Study of Social Systems (CSSS) told Maktoob, “When we tried to remove the barricades, they started dragging us. They were not just detaining us or pushing us into vans, but also brutally beating us. A man in civilian clothes came up to me and punched me in the face. My glasses broke. Then he punched and kicked me in the stomach.”
Several students sustained injuries and were taken to Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi.
Another student said, “I saw my friends writhing in pain at the hands of Delhi Police. I spent hours with them at the hospital, where even one of the doctors said, ‘tum JNU walon ke saath aisa hi hona chahiye.’ This collective attempt to break JNU’s spirit of study and struggle will not affect our united fight against the ABVP–RSS–Delhi Police nexus.”
Female students were also allegedly dragged by their hair and pushed into vans. Students said there were no female police personnel in uniform present, and nine female students were detained after 6 PM.
Delhi Police detained 28 students, including JNUSU President Nitish Kumar, Vice President Manisha, and General Secretary Munteha Fatima. They were taken to Kapashera Police Station and released a day after.
A detained female student told Maktoob, “Initially, male police officers manhandled us. Later, some female officers arrived, but they too were in civilian clothes. They pulled our hair and pushed us into the van. When I tried to get out, a male officer tried to stop me with his leg. We kept asking where they were taking us, but we were given no information.”
JNUSU President Nitish Kumar later released a video statement from the police station: “After the SSS GBM, when the students were being beaten up and office bearers held hostage, we called Delhi Police for help — no action was taken. ABVP students attacked us, tore our clothes, and hurled casteist slurs, yet there was complete police inaction. Now, when we are trying to file a complaint, the police are beating and detaining us.”
When negotiations failed between the teachers’ body and police, student groups across JNU mobilised in solidarity with the detained students. Hundreds of students marched toward the Vasant Kunj Police Station demanding their release. Six students — Nitish Kumar, Manisha, Munteha Fatima, Manikant Patel, Briti Kar, and Saurya Majumdar — were reportedly named in FIRs. Police said appropriate legal action was being taken.
After further negotiations involving students and advocates at the police station, all detained students were released later in the night. Among the 28 detained, one was not a JNU student. Six FIRs have now been filed in connection with the incident.
The student organisations AISA, SFI, BAPSA, Fraternity Movement, MSF, AISF, and others issued strong statements against the police crackdown and demanded justice for the assaulted and detained students.
The post From casteist and Islamophobic slurs to police batons, JNU students allege ABVP abuse, brutal crackdown by Delhi Police appeared first on Maktoob media.
