WHY COPS TOOK 4 HRS TO REACT

VIOLENCE rocked JNU on Sunday evening as an army of masked men and women ran amok at 3.45 pm with rods and sticks, attacking students and teachers, besides vandalizing hostels and univerSity property.

- Munish Chandra Pandey and Tanushree Pandey

JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh was among 34 wounded in the mayhem.

It’s Shocking that Ghosh had sent WhatsApp alerts to three cops — Vasant Kunj SHO Rituraj, Inspector Sanjeev Mandal and Special Commissioner of Police Anand Mohan — at 3 pm itself about a gathering of miscreants with weapons inside the campus.

Also, as per a Delhi High Court order, there was a permanent deployment of five cops near the Administrative Block of the university. But they remained stationed. Even additional forces entered the campus and conducted a flag march — a good four hours after the violence started. Naturally, damage had been done by then.

What happened at JNU triggered outrage and campus protests across India, prompting even Bollywood celebs like Deepika Padukone to back JNU students.

So why did the police fail to act? The authorization to enter the campus came to the Delhi Police from JNU Registrar Pramod Kumar only at 7.45 pm.

THE POLICE STAND