The Delhi Police used batons to hit students and teachers of Jawaharlal Nehru University during their march to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the President’s official residence, on the evening of Thursday, January 9. Some of the other protestors who had joined the march were also hit.

After an “unsatisfactory meeting” with officials at the Ministry of Human Resource Development on Parliament Street, students decided to march forward toward the President’s office. Earlier in the day, hundreds of students, student unions and other organisations had marched alongside students of JNU from Mandi House to the MHRD office.

Present at the march was current JNU Students’ Union president Aishe Ghosh, who was severely injured in the January 5 attack on the university campus, and multiple former JNUSU presidents including Kanhaiya Kumar, who addressed the crowd in an impassioned speech while Ghosh met with MHRD officials.

According to reports, Utkarsh, a JNU student, said an officer struck him in the head with his baton and attacked others. He only revealed his first name, fearing a backlash from the police. Several students were put on buses and taken to Mandir Marg police station, from where they were released shortly after a number of lawyers appeared.

According to further accounts from Ram Manohar Lohia hospital in the area, a handful of students were seriously injured in the crackdown at Parliament Street. An image (bottom) shows a student with a head injury after the police crackdown.

Videos of the incident (below) show policemen charging at protestors on the street and hitting everyone alike. Some are seen being kicked by police officers after falling to the ground.

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