A protest by RSS student wing ABVP at Jawaharlal Nehru University on Monday against delayed release of scholarship stipends led to a scuffle with security guards.

While the ABVP accused the guards of assaulting protesters, varsity authorities and the Left-controlled students’ union alleged the protesters had attacked unarmed security staff — a topsy-turvy situation on a campus known for protests by Left students’ bodies and proximity between the ABVP and the university administration.

Rohith Kumar, president of the ABVP unit at JNU, said that students who had visited the admission block to enquire about the delay in the release of scholarship money were abused by officials.

“We demanded that the registrar or finance officer speak to us. At that time over 100 security guards came and attacked us,” Rohith said. He said a dozen students had suffered injuries.

The university authorities said — without naming the ABVP — that the protesters had confined staff, including female employees, to their seats and would not relent when some of them felt ill.

When varsity officials asked security staff to free the employees, the students hurled chairs at the guards and broke glass panes, the university said in a media release.

Rohith said the guards had, while attacking the students, broken the glass panes, and in the process one of them got hurt. He said the ABVP unit had lodged a police complaint.

Students associated with the CPM-backed SFI and the CPIML Liberation’s All India Students Association tweeted videos that purportedly showed students chasing and attacking guards.

The students’ union accused the ABVP of habitual violence on the campus and blamed the JNU administration’s “shielding of ABVP goons” for “their growing impunity resulting in such repeated acts of violence”.

According to the JNU release, issued by registrar Ravikesh, around 15 students had barged into the Students’ and Project Section around 10.30am and confined staff to their seats, bringing office work to a standstill. The students were repeatedly requested to come for a dialogue but allegedly refused.

“The University authorities were also reported about the development of some medical problems among some staff members who were not allowed to move from the section. An ambulance was immediately called but the students did not allow even the ailing staff members to go outside,” the release said.

The university authorities asked security staff to get the employees freed.

“The moment these unarmed security guards tried to enter the section, the students started attacking them with chairs and smashing the glass panes of the section,” the release said.

Some security staff members were hurt and were bleeding profusely, it said.

“These students have also threatened the other security staff (with) another attack shortly,” the release said.

“The university administration… assures the JNU community that strict action will be taken against those who are found guilty.”

Scholarship woes

The ABVP has been holding an indefinite “satyagraha” on the campus since August 12 on issues such as delayed payment of scholarships, the authorities’ failure to repair hostels or allot vacant hostel seats to students, and a delay in the release of admission forms for PhD students.

Praful Kumar, a third-year BA student of the Korean language at JNU, had told The Telegraph last week that he had not received his Merit-cum-Means scholarship, pending since August last year.

Praful, the youngest among the four children of a farmer in Gaya, Bihar, said he was “dependent” on the scholarship money of Rs 2,000 a month.

“My parents have said they cannot support my studies. The last one year has been terrible for me. I have been borrowing from friends and teachers,” he said.

Praful said he had visited the finance wing of the university administration many times to enquire about the status of the scholarship, given to students whose parental income is less than Rs 2.5 lakh a year.

“Whenever I ask them, they say the University Grants Commission has not released the funds. I am not with any organisation, but I have joined the protest for the cause,” Praful, participating in the ABVP protest at the time, had said.

Rohith, however, said on Monday that the university had the scholarship funds but was delaying payment. He said the number of staff in the finance wing of the university had fallen from 17 last year to 4 now, and these employees were too hard pressed to transfer the fellowship money to the beneficiaries’ accounts.

Ashis Singh, a PhD student at the Special Centre for Disaster Research, said his Non-NET fellowship had been pending since February.

“My mess dues are Rs 12,000. My parents have told me to arrange the money. Without the fellowship money, my research work has been affected,” Singh said.

Research scholars who score well in the National Eligibility Test (NET) receive a Junior Research Fellowship of Rs 31,500 a month. Central university PhD students who have failed to qualify for the JRF receive Rs 8,000 a month as Non-NET fellowship.

Rohith had last week said the university was not allotting hostel seats to the newly admitted students even though the Sabarmati hostel had vacancies. Last April, a student was injured after a portion of the bathroom ceiling collapsed in the hostel.

“The newly opened courses like the BSc programmes in ayurveda and biology are being taught by faculty members from other centres. There are no classrooms (for these courses),” he had said, flagging another concern.