RTI | How many people were arrested in 2020 JNU violence? - India News

RTI | How many people were arrested in 2020 JNU violence? - India News

The JNU campus saw vandalism and violence in January 2020 Two FIRs were lodged in the case of violence allegedly by the ABVP The matter is still under investigation, police refused to share details.

The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus has made the national headline over an incident of violence, after a gap of two years. The students’ organisations affiliated to the Left and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) were involved in violent clashes allegedly over non-vegetarian food being served in the hostel mess on the Ram Navami day.

The Delhi Police has registered a case against unidentified members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), an RSS body, based on the complaint filed by a group of students from the Left-affiliated outfits. The police have also lodged an FIR against unidentified Left-wing student-activists following a complaint by the ABVP workers.

Before the Ram Navami confrontation , the last major incident of violence on the JNU campus had taken place on January 5, 2020. A group masked persons went on a rampage on the campus of the university leaving several people injured.

ALSO READ | ABVP vs Left: What we know about the Ram Navami clash on JNU campus

The 2020 JNU violence case is still under investigation. To know the status of the probe, India Today filed a Right to Information (RTI) application. The questions were:

How many people have been arrested in that case? How many FIRs have been registered? How many people have been named in those FIRs? How many people have been questioned by the police? Has the charge-sheet been filed in case? India Today sought answers to these questions from the Delhi Police under the RTI Act.

Responding to our query, the Office of Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, South West District, Vasant Vihar said two cases had been registered as on February 14 this year.

The first FIR was lodged under Sections 323/341/506/34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 3 of the DPDP Act (The Delhi Prevention of Defacement of Property Act). The second FIR was lodged under Sections 323/341/506/34 of the IPC and Section 3 of the DPDP Act.

Both these case files have been transferred to Crime Branch, Sector 17, Dwarka with the approval of the Commissioner of Delhi Police. India Today received no response to our query on the names, number of arrests and people questioned in the case.

Since the probe was with the Crime Branch, the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police has transferred the RTI application to the Public Information Officer (PIO) of the Crime Branch.

On March 15 this year, Deepak Yadav, the PIO of the Crime Branch, responded to our query. On the question of the number of FIRs registered in connection with this incident, he said, “The requisite information does not relate to this unit.”

On our other queries, he wrote, “All transferred cases are under investigation related to violence in the JNU campus in January 2020. Hence, rest of the information cannot be provided being exempted under Section 8 (1) (h) of RTI Act 2005.”

While the Delhi Police has registered FIRs in the Ram Navami violence case on the JNU campus, the January 2020 case remains unsolved. More than 50 masked persons wielding sticks and rods went on a rampage for three-four hours. More than 35 persons including students, teachers and administrative staff were injured in the incident.