Large-scale violence erupted in the JNU campus last night where hundreds of masked men entered the campus, attacked students and faculty members with sticks and rods. The university administration released a statement saying that the students who opposed the registration in the new semester attacked the students who were registering and wanted to study. It is alleged that Leftist students, protesting against the marginal fee hike in JNU were opposed to students registering for the new semester.
In the mob violence that broke out in JNU, JNUSU President Aishe Ghosh was one of the first students we heard. She was seen bleeding profusely and said that she had been brutally attacked by goons wearing masks.
Jawaharlal Nehru University Student Union (JNUSU) President Aishe Ghosh at JNU: I have been brutally attacked by goons wearing masks. I have been bleeding. I was brutally beaten up. pic.twitter.com/YX9E1zGTcC
— ANI (@ANI) January 5, 2020
In a strange twist of events, now, a video has gone viral where purportedly, Aishe Ghosh can be seen directing masked men. She can, in the video, be seen walking inside the hostel along with masked men. The video was first tweeted by Republic TV journalist Piyush Mishra.
Watch: @JNUSUofficial president Aishee Ghosh is seen with masked men inside JNU. pic.twitter.com/ok2jxiEHWU
— Piyush Mishra (@Piyush_mi) January 6, 2020
In the video, one can see several men and women entering the hostel and also, several of them wearing masks and covering their faces to avoid detection.
Read: Fact-check: Is this masked goon seen attacking JNU an ABVP activist as alleged
Amongst the mob, one can spot Aishe Ghosh. From what we can estimate, Aisha seems to be this individual, considering the clothes worn in her picture where she is hurt and the snapshot from the video appear similar.
Defence Analyst Abhijit Iyer-Mitra pointed out that sunset in Delhi was at 5:37 PM and in the video, it seems like there is daylight. Which would mean that Aishe Ghosh was not directing people to defend the students against masked goons but was actually coordinating the attack.
My my Aishee seen guiding & directing masked men….. now waiting for the spin “she was defending herself”. Sunset in Delhi was at 5.37pm – this is clearly well before sunset…. not defending …. attacking!!! pic.twitter.com/qvBfeeYP09 https://t.co/HvFoLJl7Ac
— Abhijit Iyer-Mitra (@Iyervval) January 6, 2020
As expected, claims did surface that Aishe Ghosh in the video is actually clearly “asking people who they are and pointing towards the masked men”. It is pertinent to note here that there is no audio in the video and thus, Aishe cannot be heard saying “who are they” or anything of the kind.
She is clearly asking people who they are, and pointing to towards the masked men. I am not sure what you, as a Republic journalist, was asked to pretend is happening. If you have any humanity left in you, then thoda sharam karlo. #SOSJNU
— Senjuti | সেঁজুতি (@BeArgumentative) January 6, 2020
It is pertinent to also note that while the narrative has been that of ABVP students attacking other students from JNU, a strong Congress link has emerged to the violence that took place in JNU on Sunday. The JNU administration has also released a statement saying that the violence erupted after students tried to register for the new semester and protesting students tried to stop them.
With the Leftists of JNU protesting against the fee-hike, just a day before the violence, Leftists had entered the information centre and disconnected the servers, interrupting the registration process.
