JNUSU claims attack on students, ABVP denies charge

NEW DELHI: The Left-controlled JNU Students' Union on Sunday alleged that ABVP activists attacked some students after a march seeking justice for an IIT Bombay student who died by suicide. The ABVP has denied the charge. The RSS-affiliated ABVP accused the Left-backed student outfits of "insulting" Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) organised seeking justice for IIT Bombay student Darshan Solanki. Solanki, 18, who belonged to a Scheduled Caste community, allegedly committed suicide by jumping off the seventh floor of a hostel building on the Powai campus of the IIT on February 12, but his family suspects foul play in his death and said he faced discrimination.

In a statement, the JNUSU said, "ABVP has once again resorted to attacking students.... This was done soon after a candlelight march in solidarity with the call by Darshan Solanki's father.... ABVP does this once again to derail the movement against caste discrimination." The ABVP denied the charge and accused the "Left group" of removing a garland from a picture of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and throwing it away.

The student outfit said it organised a function to mark the birth anniversary of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. "Immediately after the programme, the students on the Left came there and removed the garland from the picture and threw it away," the ABVP said in a statement.