A day after masked mob attacked the JNU campus, Delhi Police registered a First Information Report (FIR) against unidentified persons on Monday for rioting and damaging property, officials said. According to the FIR, students were protesting against hostel fee hike for the last few days.

According to instructions issued by the high court, no protest is allowed within a 100-metre radius of the administrative block of the university.”On Sunday at 3.45 pm, a police team headed by an inspector, which was deployed in the administrative block, got information that a few students had gathered at the Periyar hostel and a fight had broken out between them. They also vandalised the hostel building,” the FIR stated.

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The inspector, along with other policemen, reached the Periyar hostel and saw 40 to 50 people, some with their faces covered with masks, carrying sticks in their hands and beating up students and vandalising the hostel, it added.

“Later, police entered the campus after the JNU administration requested them to control the violence inside the university. More police personnel were called and a request was made to students to maintain peace. Police received more PCR calls of violence,” the FIR said.

“At around 7 pm, information was received that some people had entered the Sabarmati hostel and were beating up students. They also vandalised the hostel. There were around 50 to 60 people carrying sticks in their hands. They were asked to stop the act and leave the premises, but they kept vandalising the building and beating up students. Thereafter, they ran away and the injured students were rushed to hospitals,” it added.

A case was registered under sections 145 (joining or continuing in unlawful assembly, knowing it has been commanded to disperse), 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 151 (knowingly joining or continuing in assembly of five or more persons after it has been commanded to disperse) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, the FIR said.

Authorities deployed riot police at JNU on January 6 after a rampage by masked assailants sparked nationwide protests. The attack on students and teachers at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) came as a new challenge to the government that has been battling to put the lid on weeks of protests against a contentious citizenship law.