New Delhi | October 19, 2025
Jawaharlal Nehru University's storied campus descended into chaos on Saturday evening as a protest march by Left-leaning student groups against alleged violence by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) turned into a bruising standoff with Delhi Police. At least 28 members of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU), including its president Nitish Kumar, were detained for several hours following the melee at the university's West Gate, while six police personnel sustained injuries in the fray. The incident, rooted in a festering ideological divide between progressive and right-wing factions, has reignited accusations of campus vigilantism and police overreach, drawing sharp rebukes from student activists and opposition leaders.
The flashpoint unfolded around 5 PM when over 100 JNUSU affiliates, backed by groups like the All India Students' Association (AISA), gathered to denounce what they described as a "fascist attack" by ABVP members earlier in the day. According to JNUSU's account, Kumar and several comrades were "brutally assaulted, held hostage, and subjected to casteist, Islamophobic, and misogynistic slurs" during a confrontation at the School of Languages, Literature, and Culture Studies (SLL&CS). The altercation reportedly stemmed from a heated debate over the screening of a documentary on "caste atrocities in higher education," which ABVP activists allegedly disrupted, leading to fisticuffs and verbal abuse.
Enraged, the protesters set off on a march toward the Vasant Kunj police station to demand an FIR against the ABVP perpetrators and the university administration's "complicity" in shielding them. As the procession reached the West Gate—a perennial hotspot for JNU agitations—tensions boiled over. Eyewitnesses described a scene of pandemonium: students hurling slogans like "ABVP go back" and pelting stones, while police resorted to lathis and water cannons to disperse the crowd. Videos circulating on social media captured baton charges, with one clip showing Kumar being dragged away amid screams of "Police brutality!" Deputy Commissioner of Police (South West) Amit Goel, who oversaw the operation, countered that the force acted in self-defense after "70-80 agitators turned violent, pelting stones and attempting to breach barricades," resulting in injuries to six officers, including fractures and lacerations.
By late evening, all 28 detainees—including Kumar—were released after nearly 14 hours in custody, following interventions from university officials and legal aid groups. However, the fallout was swift: Delhi Police lodged an FIR against six unnamed JNUSU students under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for rioting, assault on public servants, and promoting enmity. AISA's national spokesperson, Kavita Krishnan, decried the charges as "vindictive," alleging the police "colluded with ABVP to criminalize dissent." In a statement, Krishnan vowed to escalate the matter to the National Human Rights Commission, claiming the detentions violated students' right to peaceful assembly.
ABVP, the BJP's student wing, dismissed the allegations as "fabricated propaganda" by "anti-national elements" within JNUSU. Delhi unit secretary Rahul Singh asserted that the clash was provoked by "Left goons" who "physically attacked" ABVP members during the documentary event, which they viewed as "anti-Hindu propaganda." Singh praised the police for "upholding law and order" and demanded a probe into JNUSU's "campus takeover tactics." The group has planned a counter-demonstration on Monday, accusing the university of bias toward "urban Naxals."
This skirmish is but the latest chapter in JNU's turbulent history of ideological turf wars, where Left-dominated unions have long clashed with ABVP over issues from fee hikes to sedition rows. Just last semester, a similar standoff over "gender-neutral toilets" saw 15 arrests and a month-long standoff. Critics, including CPI(M) MP John Brittas, linked Saturday's violence to the BJP government's "stranglehold on education," tweeting: "JNU's spirit of debate is being beaten into submission—time for Parliament to intervene." On the flip side, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra hailed the detentions as a "necessary reset" against "anarchy disguised as activism."
As JNU braces for potential escalation—with classes suspended till Tuesday—the campus remains a microcosm of India's polarized youth politics. For Kumar, nursing bruises from the baton charge, the fight is far from over: "We won't be silenced by lathis or FIRs. This is about defending our university from hate," he told reporters outside the police station at dawn. With student elections looming in December, the scars of October 18 may well define the battle lines ahead.
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