Three Jawaharlal Nehru University professors on Friday asked the Delhi High Court to issue directions to the police and government to preserve data and other evidence related to the January 5 mob attack on campus, reported PTI. They also sought a direction to the Delhi Police to retrieve all CCTV footage from the varsity.
Professors Ameet Parameswaran, Atul Sood and Shukla Vinayak Sawant said directions should be issued to preserve and retrieve all material and evidence available with WhatsApp, Google and Apple including messages, pictures, videos and phone numbers of the members of different WhatsApp groups.
A mob – allegedly comprising Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad members armed with sticks and hammers – attacked students and teachers of Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi on Sunday evening, injuring at least 34 people. The outfit is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s student wing.
Later, a group of right-wing activists sloganeering outside the university’s main gate heckled, abused and threatened several journalists who were reporting on the violence. Several eye-witness accounts and videos indicated that in most places, police personnel present at JNU did almost nothing to stop the violence, and, in fact, allowed the attackers to exit the university without apprehending them.
Members of the ABVP have blamed the violence on “Naxals” and leftist students. However, Scroll.in traced Whatsapp messages planning the attack – as well as celebrating it – to the Hindutva organisation’s activists.
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