Union says students beaten, manhandled during protest
NEW DELHI: A day after his bloodied face was splashed across newspapers and television screens, former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Sandip K Luis, 33, chose to rest at home.
“I was in JNU for seven years. As a former student, I had gone to the protest march to express my solidarity to students,” said Luis, who is a researcher at a private art museum. He completed his Mphil and PHD from JNU’S School of Arts and Aesthetics in 2018.
On Monday near Safdarjung Tomb, Luis suffered a wound on his forehead after police lathi charged protesters marching to Parliament demanding a complete roll back of a fee hike proposed earlier this month. Prohibitory orders were in force in New Delhi district at the time.
“At the second barricade near JNU, police officers chased us and we were beaten with batons. The CRPF personnel dragged me by my leg, I lost my balance, and I hit my head on the pavement,” he said. “The police refused me first aid and forcefully put me in a police jeep to Safdarjung Hospital
and then vanished.” He received four stitches for the injury.
Shashi Bhushan Pandey, 24, a visually challenged student who is pursuing a postgraduate degree in History, was also among those injured during Monday’s protest.
“I removed my glasses to show the cops that I was blind and told them not to hit me. The cops threw me onto the ground instead and yelled ‘why did you come to attend the protest if you were blind’. Four or five cops started kicking me in my chest and stomach, and then dragged me by my neck. My friends who came to rescue me were also beaten up,” he said.
JNU Visually Challenged Forum has condemned the incident and will hold protest against the Delhi Police on Wednesday.
Several women too said that they were dragged by policemen while protesting, a violation of rules that allowed only women police personnel to restrain women civilians. “My kurta was almost torn and four male police officers lifted my by my hands and legs and shoved me into the bus. It was extreme humiliation for us,” said JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh.