Hindu Raksha Dal, a Right-wing group, has claimed responsibility for the brutal assault on teachers and students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on January 5. In a video posted on Twitter, the outfit’s leader Bhupendra Tomar alias Pinky Chaudhary said Hindu Raksha Dal workers barged into the JNU campus on Sunday night as “anti-national and anti-Hindu activities” were being carried out there.
In the one minute 59-second video, Tomar says, “JNU is a hub of communists and we won’t tolerate such hubs. They abuse our religion and our country. Their attitude towards our religion is anti-national. In the future, too, we will take the same action in other universities if someone tries to indulge in anti-national activities.”
He further added, “They live in our country, they eat here, get their education here and then indulge in anti-national activities… those involved in that JNU act were all our workers. We are always ready to sacrifice our lives for the country.”
This gunda from the Hindu Rashtra Dal proudly claims that he was behind the brutal attack by masked goons on JNU students & teachers. Yet @DelhiPolice does not arrest him. Is anyone still in doubt of who were the attackers & their patrons in Police & govt? https://t.co/BhYbeijG10
— Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) January 7, 2020
Earlier, during a panel discussion on Times Now, ABVP’s Delhi Joint Secretary Anima Sonkar said two armed men carrying rods were from the RSS-linked student union. She also added that they were asked on WhatsApp groups to be armed before stepping out, “n all the WhatsApp groups, so much panic was spread. Whenever you are stepping out, step out in groups, step out while you have rods… whatever you get handy, pepper spray, somebody has acid. I have not even heard or seen any case of acid attack or something (sic).”
According to PTI, police are taking help of video footage and face recognition systems to identify those involved in the violence at JNU. They are also investigating the claim made by Hindu Raksha Dal. Police have taken cognisance of the claim, sources said.
Meanwhile, people protesting against the JNU violence were evicted from Gateway of India in south Mumbai on Tuesday morning as roads were getting blocked and tourists and common people were facing problems, a police official said.
Police had appealed to protesters to shift but they didn’t listen, so they were “relocated” to Azad Maidan near the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 1) Sangramsingh Nishandar said, “As the demonstration was posing problems for tourists and in traffic movement, we requested the protesters to move to Azad Maidan. But some groups did not listen despite our repeated request, so we relocated them to the Azad Maidan.”
Protests were also held by members of various students and youth organisations at the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU). Protests were held at various places in Bengaluru as well.
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Source: PTI