JNU violence: Home Secretary skips Parl panel meet

New Delhi, Jan 13: Union home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla on Monday did not appear before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs to discuss rising crimes in Delhi. He is currently at a meeting chaired by home minister Amit Shah in North block. However, officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had represented him before the panel.

The committee, chaired by senior Congress leader Anand Sharma, is currently quizzing the officials on the recent violence in Jawaharlal Nehru University where a masked mob attacked students and teachers and damaged property.

"To have a briefing by the Home Secretary along with Delhi Police and other stakeholders/organizations on the 'Rising Crime in Delhi and National Capital Region," the Rajya Sabha Secretariat had said earlier in a bulletin issued on the agenda of the meeting.

Delhi Police's role has come under the scanner following the violence in JNU with allegations that the force was standing at the gate of the campus while a mob attacked students and faculty members inside.