Month: January 2020

931 GST Frauds Identified Through Data Analytics

By LokMarg

The Department of Revenue has identified 931 cases of fraudulent Goods and Services Tax (GST) refund claims and tasked the GST Data Analytics Wing to scrutinise all past and pending cases filed across the country for inverted duty structure, sources said on Monday.

Refunds of over Rs 28,000 crore are estimated to have been filed by over 27,000 taxpayers so far on account of inverted duty structure in the current financial year 2019-20.

Officials said these identified taxpayers who purchased goods from tax-evading non-filers will face verification and scrutiny. This is being reviewed and monitored on a weekly basis by Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey.

To curb input tax credit (ITC) frauds, data analytics is being done on all refunds since 2017, keeping an eye on the modus operandi of unscrupulous refund claimants, fly-by-night operators and shell business entities.

GST formations booked 6,641 cases involving 7,164 entities till November last year and recovered about Rs 1,057 crore. The maximum numbers of cases for ITC frauds were booked in Kolkata zone followed by New Delhi, Jaipur and Panchkula in Haryana.

A recently-detected fraud by central tax authorities in New Delhi involving GST refund for inverted duty structure was deliberated at the second national conference on GST last week.

Sources said investigators in the national capital have busted through data analytics a significant fraud case, where fraudsters had created a network of over 500 entities comprising of fake billers, intermediary dealers, distributors and bogus manufacturers of hawai chappals for availing and encashing fake ITC credits.

The bogus manufacturers created in Uttarakhand were making supplies to other fictitious entities and retailers in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. The raw material for the chappals, known as EVA compound, was charged at 18 per cent duty whereas chappals are chargeable to GST of 5 per cent.

Resultantly, the law allows manufacturers to claim refunds of the inverted duty structure in cash.

In Surat, preliminary investigations showed that 19 firms fraudulently claimed ITC to the tune of Rs 55 crore against fake invoices valued at Rs 679 crore.

During a search at the premises of Satyam Impex and Aatif Fashion, it was found that 17 other firms were registered with GST by misusing the identities and documents of daily wagers and casual workers.

(ANI)

Why Arvind Kejriwal Still Has The Edge In Delhi Polls

By Sanjoy Narayan

As Delhi goes to the polls on February 8, and campaigning by the three main political parties hots up, there is much speculation over who could win this key election. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which runs the central government, has been recently bruised by defeats or weak performances in other state elections. It would want to regain its position by winning Delhi. But Delhi’s incumbent Aam Admi Party (AAP) government, currently in its second term, enjoys popularity and is largely not beset by anti-incumbency factors. Many believe, however, that the recent student protests in Delhi, which led to unprecedented violence across the city, particularly in university campuses, will have a bearing on the outcome of the elections.

Delhi is not a full-fledged state. Its government, no matter which party or alliance gets to form it, has limited jurisdiction over its administration. For instance, the state, home to nearly 30 million people, is policed by a force that comes under the central government’s home ministry and not the Delhi government. Likewise, matters relating to the state’s land come under the central government and not the state. The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), which administers the central part of Delhi, including what is known as Lutyens’ Delhi, is under central government’s authority, while the three other municipal corporations for the rest of the state are governed by elected councillors but has blurred reporting lines—they report to the central government-appointed Lieutenant-Governor but are also partly funded out of the state government’s budgets.

When the government at the Centre and the government of Delhi’s state are politically aligned, the system works better. However, for the past five years, Delhi’s government has been led by the Aam Admi Party (AAP), headed by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, which has been at loggerheads with the central government and the Lieutenant-Governor. The Kejriwal government has been rooting for full statehood for Delhi as it feels, and probably rightly so, that its powers are hobbled by constraints.

During his two tenures—the first one lasted 49 days—Kejriwal has formed governments that have been remarkably transparent and largely untainted by corruption or any other scandals. His schemes, aimed at the poor and lower middle class segments of the population, have included free bus services for women, and reduced electricity and water bills, which have found great favour by ordinary voters. Besides, he has burnished his reputation as a representative of the common man by not eschewing his original activism. Kejriwal’s AAP gained popularity before he won electoral victories by staging protests to back citizens’ needs. Even as a sitting chief minister of Delhi, he has continued to build that image. He sat on a dharna in front of the Lieutenant-Governor’s office when the latter was not clearing files related to some schemes. And he continues to be the rallying point for anti-BJP voters.

It is true, however, that Kejriwal’s party turned in a poor show in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections when he failed to win a single seat in Delhi. But in following months, he has recalibrated his position. When the NDA government brought the bill to bifurcate Jammu & Kashmir and scrap Article 370, Kejriwal promptly supported them. Kejriwal’s decision to support abolition of 370 comes from the understanding that in the Lok Sabha polls, a large number of Muslim voters had voted for the Congress. So, if Kejriwal cannot depend on a section of the Muslim vote, he would rather woo the wider Hindu vote-base. It’s a political gambit based on chasing electoral numbers. Whether it will work or not depends on how the BJP woos Delhi’s voters.

While Modi’s popularity among voters remains high, the BJP’s chief ministers can’t take their popularity for granted. This is evident from the string of losses the BJP has suffered in the assembly polls during the past year. Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra have not seen continuation of the BJP government. So, at the state level, the BJP looks vulnerable. Moreover, in the forthcoming Delhi elections, the BJP has not anointed anyone as the party’s contender for the chief minister’s post. Many voters will likely see the contest in February as a “Kejriwal vs. Who?” fight. It is likely that they could opt for the sitting chief minister as their preferred choice.

In all of this, the Congress’ position is the most vulnerable. In Delhi, the Congress is disadvantaged as it has no clear face to lead its charge. Its organisational disarray at the national level can also impact its fortunes in the elections. Kejriwal, on the other hand, has been quick to grab any opportunity to create an edge for himself and his party. The questionable conduct of the Delhi Police during the current student protests—in one instance, it entered a university campus and used violence against unarmed protestors; in another, it stood as passive bystanders while hooligans entered and laid siege in another campus and unleashed violence against students.

Delhi’s urban youth voters have rallied with student protestors and their collective disposition towards the BJP government has been changing. Urban youth in India have begun viewing the BJP and its recent efforts to change the Citizenship Act as discriminatory actions that go against the fabric of secularism that the Constitution of India guarantees. In Delhi, which has been the hotbed of student protests, this is most pronounced. Willy nilly, this could work to provide further advantage to Kejriwal and his party. Delhi’s youth who form a significant proportion of the electorate could prefer AAP to the BJP or the Congress. And, along with the poor and lower middle class voters, they could steer Kejriwal to a third term in the race for Delhi.

Modi Defends CAA, Says It’ll Give Citizenship, Not Take Away

By LokMarg

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday accused the Opposition of playing political games over the amended Citizenship law and said Pakistan will now have to answer why it committed atrocities on minorities.

Modi also asserted that the amended law is aimed at giving citizenship and not revoking it.

“I repeat again, Citizenship act is not to revoke anyone’s citizenship, but it is to give citizenship. After independence, Mahatma Gandhi ji and other big leaders of the time all believed that India should give citizenship to persecuted religious minorities of Pakistan,” he said while addressing people at Belur Math.

“You understood this very clearly. But those playing political games purposely refuse to understand. People are being misled over the CAA,” he added.

Attacking Pakistan for committing atrocities on minorities, Modi said: “India’s youth is raising voice against atrocities being committed on minorities in Pakistan. Had this issue not been raised, the world would not have known about this. This is the result of our initiative that Pakistan will now have to answer why it committed atrocities on minorities over last 70 years.”

The Prime Minister said that the Centre has made provisions to protect the identity, demography, and culture of the North-East.

“North-East is our pride. CAA will not have any adverse effect on their demography, identity and culture. The Central government has made provisions for this,” he said.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.

(ANI)

Qassem Soleimani Funeral

Iran And US – Waiting For The Soleimani Effect

By Jasdev Singh Rai

There is a sense that Iran’s punitive response to the assassination of Qassem Soleimani may not be the last act of revenge. However, weakened further by its admission of the unfortunate and horrific tragedy of the civilian Ukrainian Airline plane brought down by error, the Iranian regime appears to be on the backfoot.

The United States played its hand with confidence. Trump’s unconventional gamble that broke international norms alarmed powers around the world. Has he gone too far and has he broken a convention that leaders of other countries are not assassinated? In realpolitik all issues of international law become academic, if power gets the result and/or is far too big to be punished. But it is not always as simple as that.

Iran’s does not have the military or financial capability to challenge the US. It missed the boat on nuclear weapons. Unlike North Korea which is protected by its nuclear arms and a powerful benefactor next door, Iran does not have a superstate completely on its side. Moreover, Iran has been adventurist itself thus making it fair game for retaliation.

Having lost the chief architect of its Shia crescent policy in Middle East, will Iran now start to negotiate with its weak hand? This is what Trump has gambled on. But the United States is not quite in the ascendant in the Middle East.

Also Read: Donald Trump, What Is There Not To Like?

The United States has lost in Afghanistan, in Syria and is just hanging on in Iraq by force.  US policy itself appears incoherent. Its approach to the Middle East lacked understanding of the region in 1990s and still does. From cheered liberators it became victims of hate.

That is the weakness of United States that Iran is most likely to exploit. As a weaker military power, it has played a deeper, lateral, asymmetrical and longer game. Iranian conspiracy with planted agents has been considered to have been one of the reasons the US went to war against Iraq. Apparently Iranian trained agents infiltrated US decision making giving the US false evidence that Saddam was building nuclear weapons.

As an immediate expression to the anger and loss of Qassem Soleimani, Iran carried out carefully choreographed attacks sparing US lives. Iranian people may not have been completely satisfied but felt that ‘something’ at least had been done in retaliation. Until that is the Ukraine flight disaster. This has made the regime look blundering, weaker and target of a frustrated People. It is quite often the case that when people feel defeated, they turn on themselves and blame their own leadership for their sense of hopelessness.

The US is not going to leave matters where they are. Neither is it going to negotiate on equal terms. Trump needs a diplomatic victory against Iran to look strong and strategic for the next elections and brush aside the impeachment. Weakened at home, he needs a masculine win to look strong again.

The US will certainly exploit the cracks in the Iranian regime and encourage the people’s frustration by financing a new revolt as in Syria, in the hope that Iran regime will begin to crumble. That gamble is one that is part of a repeating classical script of United States foreign ventures, despite the fact that it rarely succeeds. For instance Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Venezuela and now Syria among others, it continues to lift this gameplan off the shelf and have another go in another geopolitical setting. There is usually rarely any original thinking in US policy. And unlike China, USA has not yet quite mastered the art of business without military intervention.

Iran’s Options

The Iran regime is used to revolts. It too works on its tested strategy of crushing opposition through any means. The US no doubt hopes one day either its plan will work or the Iranian regime crackdown will fail through strategy fatigue.

That distraction is not going to stop Iran hitting at US interests. The regime is deft at dealing with its own and external challenges. Its aim will be to oust the United States not only from Iraq, but from most of Middle East. It is likely to foment trouble in some of the pro US Kingdoms without taking direct action. It may even give ISIS a new lease and turn it against the Kingdoms. It will be a difficult one as both ISIS and the Kingdoms are Sunni, pitted against Iran’s Shia resurgence. Nevertheless Iran will not be lost for other ghost allies who want to see US influences further reduced in the region and turn the ISIS Frankenstein against its benefactors.

Iran could also play a more daring but dangerous game that is not beyond its very scheming ability. The Ayatollahs are patient and devious individuals who have long experience of conducting lateral war. It could play a leading stealth role in starting rebellions within the United States and begin its break up. The US is more divided today than any other time in recent history. Neither the black nor the Latino population of US are happy as resurgent white racism threatens them under Trump.

The US is ridden with internal strife. Both China and Iran would like to see the power of US reduced and even consumed by internal tensions. It will be Russia’s icing on the cake for the break-up of the Soviet. It might seem far-fetched but then so was the conspiracy that Iran hatched to get US into war against Iraq, as was the Russian engineering of US election. Both were once unimaginable.

The third reaction from Iran will be its continuing policy of undermining the world’s dependency on dominance of the Dollar and create a different international financial order that can bypass the Dollar as reserve currency. It is something Iran has been engineering but has failed so far. It may escalate its efforts but it is an uphill battle that could be could take decades to have an impact.

The fourth Iranian action may well be a strategic game it has played quite often. It will appear to both negotiate and stall negotiations giving it enough time to build the nuclear weapon it so covets. That will be disastrous for the Middle East as it will kickstart a nuclear race. It is not a situation the world wants to find itself in, given the volatile and infectious appetite for war in the Middle East. On the other hand it might turn out to be the deterrence that Middle East needs to stop its incessant wars.

Matters could turn out differently but it depends on the US. Iran is weakened both militarily and financially. It has hinted a few times that it will negotiate with dignity. The US on the other hand is always tempted by a weaker opponent and go for the kill rather than negotiate.

It seemed at the time of Barack Obama that the US was willing to let matters be and settle with Iran for a prolonged period of moratorium on its nuclear ambition. Unfortunately it is one of the weaknesses of American democracy that leadership has to appear macho. Its leaders need to win a ‘war’ to become political Rambos. Trump needs to have a win without actually going to war now that Congress has tied his hands.  He has rubbished the Obama deal. He has written the script for a conflict that he may not be able to back off from unless he loses power or is impeached.

However, Trump is also the one person who can wriggle out of his own holes without losing face. He may blame Congress for reversal on his position on the nuclear deal and renegotiate with minor tinkering.

Trump’s fall may be the most desired outcome for Iran along with its attempt to acquire a nuclear weapon. The assassination of Soleimani may prove to be expensive both for Trump and for United States if it does not rethink its policy and put further fetters on Trump.

Yet that may all be irrelevant speculation as another rogue actor joins the game. Trudeau, the Canadian Prime Minister, desperate to regain some international respect after his disastrous few years that began with an ill-fated visit to India, has started a belligerent rhetoric prodding the West to take a hardline approach. It is often the unexpected that lays waste the best laid plans. Trudeau, it seems, may be the new Blair. An apparent evangelic liberal with a perverse appetite for war and pontificatory lectures to the world. It is not Boris and the British war machine that the world needs to watch but the new-born Liberal Party whose leader has so far been a damp squid, now willing to turn hawkish.

There is the other unknown, the actions of Israel. Its democracy seems to throw up leaders who can be ever more aggressive towards the neighbours than the previous one. Its actions on Iran may be the aberrant that lights the fuse in Middle East. Qassem Soleimani’s shadow may last much longer than anticipated beyond the grave.

Cong Probe Panel Says JNU Violence ‘State Sponsored’

By LokMarg

A fact-finding committee of the Congress on the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) violence, claimed on Sunday that the attack which took place inside the premises of the university on January 5 was “state-sponsored.”

They further demanded that Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar should be dismissed immediately.

Sushmita Dev, the member of the committee, further demanded that a criminal investigation should be initiated against the Vice-Chancellor, security agency and the faculty members.

“The Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar should be dismissed immediately. An independent inquiry should be made to probe all the appointments and administrative decisions taken by him. VC, security agency and the faculty which is complicit in this incident must face a criminal investigation,” said Dev while addressing the media in New Delhi.

“It is clear that the attack on JNU campus was state-sponsored,” she added.

She further stated that “the Commissioner of Police should also be held accountable and not just the ACP on what happened on January 5.”

Sushmita Dev also raked up the issue of the JNU fee hike and demanded that the administration should roll-back.

“The fee hike must be rolled back as it is unfair. This decision was taken by the Inter Hall Administrative Committee in which students’ representation is mandatory…JNSU members were not allowed to take part in the meeting as the VC didn’t recognized it. Also, JNU has become the most expensive central university in the country with this new fee structure,” she said.

The other members of the fact-finding committee are Hibi Eden, MP and former NSUI president, Syed Naseer Hussain, MP and former president of JNU NSUI and Amrita Dhawan, a former NSUI president and ex-DUSU president.

(ANI)

Shah Reiterates Grand Ram Temple Promise In 4 Months

By LokMarg

Alleging that Congress leader Kapil Sibal had opposed the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said that a magnificent temple would be built within four months.

“Kapil Sibal, Congress’ advocate, had said that Ram Mandir should not be constructed. Sibal brother, oppose as much as you can. In four months, there will be a magnificent Ram Mandir constructed there,” said Shah at a public meeting here.

Shah also launched an attack on the Congress leaders for opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) by stating that the promise to grant citizenship to refugees was made by Mahatma Gandhi and added that his government will not stop till the citizenship is given to every non-Muslim refugee from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.

“In July 1947, Mahatma Gandhi had said that the Hindu brothers, who were made to flee from Pakistan and the ones who stayed back should know that India is ready to welcome and support them whenever they decide to arrive,” said Shah.

“Rahul Baba, will you not listen even to Mahatma Gandhi. Leave this, because you have left Mahatma Gandhi long back. Your great grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru had also said that (India) will do everything to provide relief, rehabilitation and citizenship to the refugees from Pakistan, who have come and who will come. Will you not even listen to him,” he added.

The Home Minister said that the maximum number of refugees from the three countries were Dalits, who had come seeking refuge in India after facing atrocities in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 grants citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Parsi, Buddhist, and Christian refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.

(ANI)

JNU Violence: Students Union Calls Police Probe A ‘Fraud’

By LokMarg

The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) on Saturday termed the Delhi Police’s investigation in the JNU violence case as ‘fraud and bogus’.

“We are here to talk about Delhi Police’s press conference, which appeared like a press conference of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). It seemed like the police were reading a paper by ABVP. We want to say that the Delhi Police’s did a “fraud and bogus” investigation,” said a member of JNUSU in a press conference here.

The JNUSU alleged that both administration and police are complicit in the attack on the varsity’s students.

“It was cleared by videos and investigation by several media organisations that ABVP was involved in the violence. Police and administration are complicit in it. Lies and fake images and videos are being spread. It was a planned conspiracy to threaten JNU,” the JNUSU activist said.

The Delhi Police Crime Branch investigating the case of violence in JNU on Friday had released photographs of nine suspects, including JNU Students Union (JNUSU) President Aishe Ghosh.

Police had said that no suspect had been detained yet but the process of interrogation of suspects would begin soon.Three cases have been registered till now, and they are being investigated by us, the SIT chief DCP Joy Tirkey had said. The DCP had said that the team was investigating three cases registered in connection with the series of events which had started from January 3.

On January 5, more than 30 students of the university, including JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh, were injured and taken to the AIIMS Trauma Centre after a masked mob entered the varsity and attacked them and professors with sticks and rods.

(ANI)

Iran Admits To Shooting Ukrainian Plane By ‘Mistake’

By LokMarg

Iran on Saturday admitted that it “unintentionally” shot down a Ukrainian International Airlines passenger plane that crashed near Tehran earlier this week, killing all 176 people aborad, state media reported.

In a statement, the general staff of Iran’s armed forces blamed the incident on the “human error”, Press TV reported, as cited by CNN.

Shortly after the development, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said that the armed force’s investigation showed the downing of the Boeing 737-800 was the result of “human error at (the) time of crisis caused by U.S. adventurism (that) led to disaster.”

“A sad day. Preliminary conclusions of (the) internal investigation by Armed Forces. Human error at (a) time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to disaster. Our profound regrets, apologies and condolences to our people, to the families of all victims, and to other affected nations,” Zarif tweeted.

On Wednesday, a Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 crashed in the vicinity of Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport shortly after takeoff. All 176 people on board were killed, including citizens of Iran, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Canada, Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Tehran had earlier cited technical malfunction as the reason for the plane crash, while the US, UK, and Canadian officials have said they believe the Ukrainian aircraft was downed by a missile fired by Iran, possibly by mistake.

(ANI)

JNU victim Aneek Das violence has left deep scars

‘JNU Violence Has Left Deep Scars On My Memory’

By LokMarg

Aneek Das, 22, a Third Year German Language student in Jawaharlal Nehru University, recalls the terror unleashed by masked mob inside the campus on January 5. He still gets nightmares

Many students and teachers had assembled at the Sabarmati T-point on Sunday (January 5) for a peace march called by JNUTA (Jawaharlal Nehru Teachers’ Association). The peace march had been called because the campus had been witnessing sporadic incidents of violence related to registration issues.

The students who had been protesting against the fees hike were of the view that agreeing to registration would mean agreeing to the increased fee structure. Also, since the examinations for the current semester had not been conducted in the university, how could we possibly get ourselves enrolled for the next semester?

A day before the Sunday march the JNU students affiliated to the BJP-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad or ABVP wanted to get themselves registered. However, they could not do so because the Wi-Fi connection was disconnected (It is still not clear if someone disconnected the Wi-Fi on purpose or it was a mechanical glitch). The main fight between the left and right wing students was on this issue until matters got out of hand on Sunday around 7.30 pm. From then on, it was mayhem at an unprecedented scale.

Men and women were both part of the masked mob that entered our campus on Sunday. The police, which till then had been keeping a very sharp eye on the campus (even checking each and every auto that entered the campus), allowed a mob to run riot. Being masked should have raised suspicion and they could have been denied entry. Even the guards who are supposed to ‘guard’ the campus were nowhere to be seen. It was disheartening as well as scary to know that such violence can occur on a university campus. Once the attackers charged on the march, the participants ran to save their lives. However, several professors couldn’t run fast and were targeted by the mob. The respected faculty got beaten mercilessly along with a few other students.

I, along with many of my friends, ran to the nearest hostel which is Sabarmati to save our lives. We entered rooms of our friends and put the bed as barricade on the doors. The frustrated mob smashed the window panes to strike fear and vent out their anger. Finally, they went away to another hostel. Though most of us were not badly physically hurt, some of us are undergoing PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) for sure. Even while sleeping I wake up in cold sweat when I feel a group of men is banging on my door to break it open. I guess it will take a long time for these scars to go away.

I am a third year student of German at JNU, and I haven’t seen this scale of violence in the campus. Reports are out which shows outsiders entered the campus and unleashed terror on unsuspecting students and teachers. You can’t even imagine the pain and worry that our parents are going through. We are protesting the fees hike because we can’t afford increased fees (which is quite a large amount, unlike what a section of the media have shown).

Our parents are asking us to come home or keep away from the campus until the situation returns to normal, but the thing is that the situation in JNU isn’t being allowed to be normal for the past 3-4 years. When is the situation ever going to be normal enough for us to feel safe?

Cops Identify 9 Suspects, Including Aishe, In JNU Violence

By LokMarg

The Delhi Police Crime Branch investigating the case of violence in Jawaharlal Nehru University has identified and released photographs of nine suspects, including JNU Students Union JNUSU) President Aishe Ghosh.

“Those identified include- Chunchun Kumar, Pankaj Mishra, Aishe Ghosh, Waskar Vijay, Sucheta Talukraj, Priya Ranjan, Dolan Sawant, Yogendra Bhardwaj, Vikas Patel,” DCP Joy Tirkey, who is heading a Special Investigation Team said at a press conference here.

The senior police official said that no suspect had been detained yet but the process of interrogation of suspects would begin soon.

Three cases have been registered till now, and they are being investigated by us, the SIT chief said. Addressing the media Tirkey also released images of the suspects.

The DCP said that the team was investigating three cases registered in connection with the series of events which had started from January 3.

“On January 3 a group entered the computer room forcefully, manhandled the staff and turned off the server switch which led to cancellation of the registration process. In this connection JNU administration registered a case, but again on January 4 students clashed with staff and a glass door of the server room was broken. It was damaged, and then again agitators clashed with students who were in line for registrations,” Tirkey said.

On January 5, more than 30 students of the university, including JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh, were injured and taken to the AIIMS Trauma Centre after a masked mob entered the varsity and attacked them and professors with sticks and rods.

(ANI)