Violence as means of 'punishing difference' has no place in varsity: JNUTA on clash between students

The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers' Association (JNUTA) has condemned the violence that erupted in the Kaveri hostel mess on Sunday allegedly over serving of chicken at dinner time on Ram Navami, and demanded that the vice-chancellor intervenes in the matter.

In a statement issued late Sunday night, the JNUTA said it will ascertain the full sequence of events and the factual details and report back to the campus community.

"JNUTA expresses its outrage at any effort to impose the food preferences of any group over others. The use of violence as a means of punishing difference has no place within a university community," read the statement.

The safety of students and the staff who work for the university has to be fully ensured, it said.

"The JNU Vice-Chancellor and her team, as well as the security forces, must personally intervene to end this violence immediately and to reaffirm the principles of pluralism and celebration of difference that this university stands for," they said.

On Sunday, two groups of students clashed at the Jawaharlal Nehru University's Kaveri Hostel allegedly over-serving of non-vegetarian food on Ram Navami in the mess. Six students were injured in the violence.

Several purported videos of the violence surfaced on social media, with one of them showing a student, Akhtarista Ansari, bleeding from the head. Officials have not confirmed the authenticity of the videos.

The JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) on Sunday, alleged that Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) members stopped the mess vendor from supplying chicken to the mess and attacked the vendor in the afternoon.

However, the right-wing ABVP denied the charge and claimed that Leftists obstructed a puja programme organised at the hostel on Ram Navami. Both sides accused each other of pelting stones and injuring their members.