Classroom attack jolts JNU campus

Students discuss security, administration sets up probe committee

Jawaharlal Nehru University was shaken on Wednesday by the murderous murderous attack on a woman student and the suicide by her classmate.

The School of Languages where the two studied Korean was shut down after the violence.

As police began its investigation, a JNU spokesperson said the varsity had set up its own five-member probe panel to look into the episode.

While Roshni was critically injured, Rakesh committed suicide after attacking her.
Several students close to the accused said thaough he was in a relationship with the girl since the first year, she stopped responding to him of late.

“ Although by nature he was a serious person, but we never thought that this was affecting him so much,” said one of his friends.

Another friend said Akash had breakfast with them at the varsity mess around 7 am and left.

“He said he has some work and will return soon. I think he went to get weapons. He also has disabled his Facebook account. So maybe this was all planned. It is too early to say anything,” said another friend.

After the incident, the campus buzzed with discussions on security and interaction between male and female students.

“Students are talking about the incident in the campus. It is a sad event. Parents living miles away will feel insecure about their wards now. I know few female students whose parents are calling them back home,” said a PhD student.

“JNU has a proud history of treating everyone alike irrespective of their gender and not stopping male-female interaction. There are groups of students which are talking about giving too much freedom to students. By such acts, we are taking away our own freedom,” the student said.

The School of Languages was shut down after the incident while libraries, bookshops and canteens remained open.

“The last phase of admission process is still going on. In most of the departments, introductory classes are going on. So I don’t know if this incident will affect classes,” said the student.

A JNU official said the matter was between two adults.

“The varsity has several gates and CCTV cameras have been installed at all strategic locations. There are security checks on outsiders entering the varsity. The incident involved our own students. We cannot check students’ bags while entering classes. There are around 7,000 students,” the official said.

Sources said the JNU probe panel is expected now to recommend installation of more CCTV cameras, among other measures.