JNU hostels wear a deserted look as many yet to return

New Delhi, Jan 08: The hostels at the Jawaharlal Nehru University wear a deserted look as many students who have left following the Sunday's mob attack have not returned yet.

The students also stepped up their demand for sacking of Vice Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar.

"What has happened is wrong. But I will stay here," said Sarojini, a student from the Netherlands, who has been in the university for four-and-a-half years.

"There is fear among the students, but I am not going anywhere. If there is someone who has to go, it is the VC," Sarojini said.

Most of the injured students are again back at the campus, but some have left fearing a fresh bout of violence. A few returned to their rooms, only to find them vandalised.

Ajay, a resident of Sabarmati hostel, said only 10 students were present in the boys' wing on Monday night. "Students are scared and have gone back home," he said.

"Seven to eight of my friends received calls from their home after Sunday's incident," another resident of the hostel said. "They were asked to immediately come back as the situation is not conducive. They have gone back and we do not know when they will return."

A woman student, requesting anonymity, said: "A friend of mine, who is from a foreign country, returned to his hostel room, only to find it vandalised. He left the hostel with his belongings and is staying at the embassy."

Another student said the students were under immense pressure to get back to their homes.

"They have this feeling that we will be killed here. But we have somehow withstood the pressure. We hope our friends also come back," the resident of Sabarmati said.

Jyoti said there were almost 250 students in the hostel, but only 100 were remaining.

"Many of the women students who are residents of Sabarmati Hostel, which suffered the maximum damage during the attack, have left either for their friends' homes outside the campus or for their own home," a student said. "Rest of the places there is not much impact."

After the violence, the JNU students received overwhelming support from several quarters and across the country and world.

On Tuesday, a march was organised to show solidarity with fellow students, while alumni like CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and CPI leader Kanhaiya Kumar also addressed a gathering.

Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone was also at the varsity to express solidarity with the students.

Addressing students at the university, Yechury sought to know why FIRs were registered against JNU students' union president Aishe Ghosh and alleged they were filed as afterthought.

"We are defending the Constitution, and if there is any anti-national, it is the government which is trying to destroy the Constitution," Yechury said.

Former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar said whenever he was called the leader of the "tukde tukde gang", he takes it as an honour.

"JNU always talks about issues that are not even reported. The government is making a mistake. They have chosen an enemy that is intelligent and studious," Kumar said.