India: Outrage over attack at top university campus

NEW DELHI

Security has been beefed up at the campus of a prestigious Indian university following a night of terror when masked men attacked students with batons.

On Sunday night, dozens of students and teachers at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) were injured allegedly by a group associated with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

“It was a really scary experience for us. There were around 80 boys who were all wearing masks with sticks and machetes in their hands and they beat up whoever they found in their way,” said a student Anantika, who only gave her first name, in the capital New Delhi

She even questioned the role of the police who she said stood by and watched.

At least 35 injured students and staff who were taken to hospital were discharged on Monday.

The attacks came amid simmering tensions against a controversial citizenship law that has deeply divided the nation and has led to mass anti-government protests.

The campus, which is this year's Nobel prize winner Abhijeet Banerjee's alma matter, has been a hub for left-wing politics.

In November, the campus saw running battles with police as students protested a fee hike.

Students across the nation on Monday held demonstrations against the attack after videos of JNU students pleading for help circulated on social media.

Criticism has also poured in from political parties.

Main opposition Congress party spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala told news agency PTI: "Why are you harboring enmity with youth of country. The more you suppress voice of the youth, more emboldened it will become. Violence in JNU reminds us of Nazi rule 90 years ago."

Smriti Irani, a Cabinet minister, said campuses should not be made a “political battlefield”.

“I hope students will not be used as political tools,” Irani told reporters in Delhi.

Another opposition leader Mayawati sought a judicial probe into the acts of violence.