Indian students beaten up for eating meat during Hindu festival

Photos and videos widely circulated on social media showed students bleeding from their foreheads

Multiple students were injured at the campus of India’s prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Sunday after members of a right-wing political group allegedly unleashed violence over the consumption of meat on a major Hindu festival.

Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), allegedly protested against hostel authorities serving meat on campus on the occasion of Ram Navami, the celebrations marking the birth of Hindu god Ram.

Police said at least six students were injured. RSS is the ideological parent organisation of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Left-leaning student groups on campus said that 50-60 students had been injured while the ABVP claimed that 15-20 were hurt, including 8-10 of its own members, reported The Indian Express.

Photos and videos widely circulated on social media showed students bleeding from their foreheads, while others showed injuries on their back and arms.

Anagha Pradeep, councillor, JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) said: “Every Sunday, both non-vegetarian and vegetarian food is cooked in all hostels. This is the usual practice.

“ABVP students were having some event near Kaveri hostel and when the vendor came to deliver chicken, they stopped him. They harassed and heckled both him and the mess secretary, saying that a havan (Hindu puja) is being held and non-vegetarian food can’t be cooked.”

On Monday, ABVP’s JNU president Rohit Kumar denied that the issue was related to consumption of meat.

“It’s not a matter of chicken. Everyone is free to eat whatever they want. They (Left-wing students) are using chicken as an agenda. They attacked our workers. They were against the conduct of Ram Navami puja. We demand justice,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Police said that a complaint had been registered against unidentified ABVP students.

In a statement Manoj C, deputy commissioner of police (South-west), said on Monday: “We have received a complaint from a group of students who are members of JNUSU, SFI [Left-leaning Student Federation of India], DSF [Democratic Students Federation] and AISA [All India Students Association] on early Monday morning against unknown ABVP students.”

The police added that they will continue their probe to collect evidence on what transpired on Sunday.

The last time there was violence on JNU campus was on 5 January 2020, when a masked mob entered the premises and beat up students with sticks and rods.

While an FIR was registered then as well, no arrests were made.

Meanwhile tensions continued to simmer in other parts of the country on Ram Navami as well.

On Saturday at least 10 houses were set ablaze and more than two dozen people, including a senior police official, were injured in clashes that erupted during Ram Navami procession in various areas of Khargone in Madhya Pradesh.

The Madhya Pradesh government said on Monday that 77 people had been arrested in connection with the violence.

In the southern state of Karnataka, fruit stalls owned by Muslim vendors were vandalised in Dharwad district on Saturday by members of right wing groups.

Videos on social media showed a group of people smashing watermelons from a stall on the ground, as people look on.

“I had bought six quintals of watermelon and only one quintal was sold,” the vendor, Nabisab was quoted as saying.

He added that about eight to ten people came and vandalised the stall.

Also, in Karnataka’s Raichur a mob of Hindu right wing groups were seen playing loud music in front of the Osmania mosque during a Ram Navami rally, reported Hindutva Watch, an organisation that reports violence against minority groups.

In West Bengal's Howrah, clashes were reported during a Ram Navami procession in the Shibpur area.

Communal clashes took place in Gujarat’s Anand district's Khambhat and Sabarkantha district's Himmatnagar, reported news agency Press Trust of India.

Police in Khambat said that at least one person has been killed in the clashes. "The body of an unidentified man, who appears to be around 65 years old, was recovered from the spot where the two groups clashed during a Ram Navami procession," police superintendent Ajeet Rajyan was quoted as saying.

Reports of stone pelting also emerged from Jharkhand’s Lohardanga.