Several students injured in Sunday’s clashes inside Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), are being treated at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi, news agency reported.
Meanwhile, the police have launched an inquiry into the clashes between the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the All India Students Association (AISA) inside the JNU campus. The altercation broke out on Sunday at reportedly around 9:45pm.
According to Gaurav Sharma, deputy commissioner of police (southwest), a heated argument over organising a seminar in a student union hall led to the clashes.
According to the news report, the police received information regarding slogans being shouted and apprehension of a quarrel in Vasant Kunj Police Station. “On enquiry, it was learnt that heated arguments took place between two groups of students on account of organising a seminar in a student union hall,” a police official said.
Students from both organisations have lodged a written complaint about the clashes. “Both the sides are levelling allegations against each other of disrupting their meeting and initiating quarrel by another side,” the official also said.
However, the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) has not lodged any complaint so far.
Further inquiry into the clashes is underway and police have assured of legal action to be taken according to the findings.
The ABVP is affiliated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), while AISA is a left-wing student organisation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation.
Both groups have a rivalry in student-level politics and have clashed with each other a number of times.
In 2020, an activist of the AISA at JNU alleged that he was attacked by 16 people, including activists of the ABVP, in his hostel room late at night. The ABVP rejected the allegations by calling them “baseless” and said it had nothing to do with the incident.
In 2018 as well, the members of ABVP and AISA clashed and accused each other of attacking their supporters, hours after the JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) poll results were announced.