On the evening of 5 January 2020, a masked group armed with sticks and rods attacked students and teachers at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi, ransacking hostels for about three hours. Between 28 and 36 people were injured, including students' union president Aishe Ghosh. Left groups blamed the ABVP, the ABVP blamed the Left, and Delhi Police named suspects from both sides. Protests followed at campuses across India. No arrests had been reported by 2021, and JNU teachers said in January 2026 that the attackers remained unidentified.
Key takeaways
- On 5 January 2020 a masked mob with sticks, rods and stones attacked students and teachers at JNU in New Delhi and vandalised hostels including Sabarmati, after weeks of protest against a hostel fee hike.
- On 10 January 2020 Delhi Police named nine suspects, seven from Left groups including Aishe Ghosh and two the police linked to the ABVP; Ghosh denied any role.
- The Home Ministry told Parliament on 3 August 2021 that no arrest had been made in the JNU violence cases; no chargesheet has been reported.
Background: the fee hike and the registration boycott
On 28 October 2019 JNU's Inter Hostel Administration approved changes to the hostel manual Deccan Herald. The draft raised single-room rent from Rs 20 to Rs 600 a month and double-room rent from Rs 10 to Rs 300, added Rs 1,700 in service charges, and raised the refundable mess security from Rs 5,500 to Rs 12,000 Business Today.
On 13 November 2019 the Executive Council announced a partial rollback and a scheme for poorer students. The students' union said it would continue its protest until the manual was discussed with it Business Today. By January the JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) had been protesting for more than 75 days, and it called on students to boycott registration for the winter semester Deccan Herald.
Online registration began on 1 January 2020. The JNU security department later complained that protesters vandalised server rooms and cut fibre cables on 1, 3 and 4 January to stop it The Wire. On 4 January, video showed Left groups clashing with ABVP members during an attempt to block registration at the Communications and Information Services Centre Scroll.
The attack on 5 January
On 5 January the JNU Teachers' Association (JNUTA) held a meeting at Sabarmati T-Point from 4 pm to protest the violence of the previous days Bar and Bench. Earlier in the afternoon there was trouble near Periyar hostel. Left students say ABVP members threw stones at their march; ABVP members say Left students entered Periyar and beat them Scroll.
At around 6.30 pm a masked group reached the meeting, threw stones and damaged teachers' cars The Caravan. Estimates of its size range from about 50 to 150. Professor Sucharita Sen suffered a head injury The Caravan.
The mob then went into Sabarmati hostel, smashing furniture and glass and beating residents. Scroll found that rooms with ABVP posters were spared while rooms of Left activists and Muslim students were damaged Scroll. Aishe Ghosh was attacked opposite Sabarmati hostel; she received 16 stitches and her left hand was fractured Scroll.
Students said police ignored their calls and street lights were switched off. Caravan reporters saw lathi-carrying, masked men walk out of the campus past police at around 10.30 pm The Caravan.
Injury counts differ: 28 students and a teacher Business Today, 34 Tribune, at least 35 PTI and 36 ThePrint.
Timeline
Masked group near Periyar
A police FIR says officers saw 40 to 50 people, some masked, beating students near Periyar hostel; they fled when police came Scroll.
Teachers' meeting and hostels attacked
The mob attacks the JNUTA gathering, then Sabarmati and other hostels The Caravan.
FIRs against students
Two FIRs over the server room are registered against JNUSU leaders, including Ghosh Scroll.
Police name nine suspects
India Today airs a sting the same day The Wire.
High Court order
Data preservation directions to WhatsApp and Google Deccan Herald.
The WhatsApp groups
Screenshots of WhatsApp groups called "Unity Against Left" and "Friends of RSS", in which members appeared to plan the attack, circulated on social media The Wire. Scroll traced messages planning and celebrating the attack to ABVP activists who were former JNU students Scroll.
Police said 60 people were in "Unity Against Left". They traced 37 and sent them notices Deccan Herald.
Delhi Police's response and press conference
Police spokesperson MS Randhawa said the administration asked police to act only at about 7.45 pm. But the FIR on the attack records police seeing masked attackers at 3.45 pm and again at 7 pm at Sabarmati hostel, with a request from the administration after the first incident. DCP Devender Arya said there "must have been a mistake while framing the FIR" The Wire.
On 10 January, DCP (Crime) Joy Tirkey named nine suspects from photographs taken from a video. Seven were from Left groups, including Ghosh, who he said "led the mob that attacked the Periyar hostel". Police sources said the other two, Vikas Patel and Yogendra Bharadwaj, were from the ABVP The Wire Deccan Herald. Tirkey said Left groups had stopped students from registering. No one was detained The Wire.
The same evening India Today aired a sting in which Akshat Awasthi, a first-year JNU student, said he had mobilised the mob in retaliation for the Periyar incident. He also claimed a police officer had encouraged them. The ABVP said Awasthi was "neither an office bearer nor a karyakarta" and called the sting a "smear campaign" The News Minute. The sting also showed a former JNUSU president from AISA saying she took part in shutting the server room Scroll.
By 12 January police had sent notices to 49 people, including Awasthi and Rohit Shah from the sting. They also identified a masked woman in a viral video as Komal Sharma, a Delhi University student Deccan Herald. Sharma denied being the woman in the video. The ABVP said she was a member Scroll.
Both accounts
JNUSU, teachers and Left groups
Ghosh called it "an organised attack" and alleged "a clear nexus of JNU administration, security police and the ABVP" Al Jazeera. She said she went to Periyar to stop violence and was not masked The Wire. JNUSU called the police account "a litany of distortions, half-truths and outright lies", and JNUTA sought an independent inquiry into the role of the police and administration Deccan Herald.
ABVP, police and administration
Claim · ABVP The ABVP said Left students attacked its members at Periyar hostel, injuring its former presidential candidate Manish Jangid. It cited a video of Ghosh entering Periyar with a group Scroll. An ABVP Delhi leader said its own inquiry found "many of our people were beaten" Scroll. The administration said the violence began when fee hike protesters beat other students at about 4.30 pm Scroll.
Claim · Kamlesh Mandriya Kamlesh Mandriya, an injured student whom ABVP accounts presented as a victim of the Left, said ABVP members attacked him The Wire.
University and government position
Government's position Home Minister Amit Shah asked Delhi Police to investigate Al Jazeera. The BJP called the attack "a desperate attempt by forces of anarchy" Al Jazeera. HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal said campuses "cannot be allowed to become political 'addas'" and promised strong action Tribune.
Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar skipped a ministry meeting on 6 January. On 8 January ministry officials advised him to be more communicative with students PTI via Business Standard. JNUSU and JNUTA demanded his removal Scroll. Sonia Gandhi of the Congress sought a judicial inquiry Tribune.
Solidarity protests
A midnight vigil began at Mumbai's Gateway of India on 5 January, with students from IIT Bombay and TISS. On 7 January police moved protesters to Azad Maidan, citing traffic and tourists Onmanorama/PTI. Students rallied at AMU, Jadavpur, Hyderabad, BHU, Pondicherry and other universities, and at Oxford and Columbia Tribune.
Colaba police chargesheeted 36 Gateway protesters in December 2020. In January 2023 a Mumbai court allowed the case to be withdrawn PTI via Business Standard.
The High Court order
JNU professors Ameet Parameswaran, Atul Sood and Shukla Vinayak Sawant asked the Delhi High Court to preserve CCTV footage and data from the two WhatsApp groups PTI via Business Standard. On 14 January Justice Brijesh Sethi told WhatsApp and Google to preserve and provide information under their policies, told police to seize group members' phones "at the earliest", and told JNU to preserve CCTV footage. WhatsApp said delivered chats are not kept on its servers Deccan Herald.
On 24 January the court also let unregistered students register under the old hostel manual Deccan Herald.
Outcome
- Injuries: 28 to 36, including Ghosh and two teachers.
- FIRs: Four by police count, one on the mob attack and three on server room complaints. The Home Ministry later spoke of three cases.
- Suspects: Nine named on 10 Jan 2020; police said 15 suspects were identified and 95 people examined by April 2021 ThePrint.
- Arrests: None, per the Home Ministry in August 2021 The Wire.
- University inquiry: Disbanded because the police were investigating The Wire.
Where things stand
In April 2021 a police officer told ThePrint the probe was in its "last leg" and called the violence "an internal issue between two student groups". He said footage showed Komal Sharma was part of the mob, which she denies ThePrint. No chargesheet or final report has been reported. On the sixth anniversary in January 2026, JNUTA said the attackers' identities "remain 'masked' to this day" Careers360. Students hold a march every 5 January Newslaundry.
Questions people ask
What happened at JNU on 5 January 2020?
A masked group with sticks, rods and stones attacked a teachers' meeting and several hostels for about three hours. Between 28 and 36 people were hurt, including students' union president Aishe Ghosh.
Who attacked JNU students?
No one has been charged. The students' union and teachers blame the ABVP, which denies it and says Left students attacked its members. Police named seven Left-linked and two ABVP-linked suspects, and later identified Komal Sharma from a video; she denies it.
Was anyone arrested for the JNU attack?
No. The Home Ministry told the Lok Sabha in August 2021 that no arrest had been made, and no chargesheet has been reported since.
What was the "Unity Against Left" WhatsApp group?
A group in which the attack was allegedly planned. Police said it had 60 members; the Delhi High Court asked WhatsApp and Google to preserve its data.
Why was Aishe Ghosh named in an FIR?
JNU security complained that students, including Ghosh, damaged server rooms on 1 to 4 January. The FIR was registered while she was in hospital.
Sources
- Al Jazeera: New Delhi: Students, teachers attacked inside JNU campus, 6 Jan 2020
- The Caravan: JNU violence: Students recount attack by a masked mob, 6 Jan 2020
- Scroll: Inside JNU hostel, a masked mob selectively attacked rooms based on posters, 6 Jan 2020
- Scroll: Vice chancellor is behaving like a mobster, alleges students union, 6 Jan 2020
- Business Today: JNU violence timeline: how the events unfolded on January 5, 6 Jan 2020
- Al Jazeera: JNU attack: India police file case against injured student leader, 7 Jan 2020
- Scroll: FIR shows Delhi Police was present on campus when masked mob attacked students, 7 Jan 2020
- Tribune: Campuses across nation rally behind JNU students, 7 Jan 2020
- Onmanorama/PTI: Protesters at Gateway of India evicted, 7 Jan 2020
- PTI via Business Standard: HRD ministry officials advise JNU VC, 8 Jan 2020
- The Wire: JNU Attack: What the Delhi Police has done and what it hasn't, 9 Jan 2020
- The Wire: Delhi Police name JNUSU president, 8 others as suspects, 10 Jan 2020
- Deccan Herald/PTI: Delhi Police claim a litany of distortions: JNUSU, 10 Jan 2020
- The News Minute: On India Today sting, two alleged ABVP members confess, 10 Jan 2020
- Scroll: ABVP member admitted on camera that he planned attack, claims India Today sting, 10 Jan 2020
- The Wire: Rough edges of the Delhi Police's JNU press conference, 11 Jan 2020
- Deccan Herald/PTI: Delhi Police send notices to 49 people, 12 Jan 2020
- Bar and Bench: Plea filed in Delhi High Court to preserve WhatsApp data, CCTV footage, 11 Jan 2020
- PTI via Business Standard: HC asks police, WhatsApp, Google, Apple to respond, 13 Jan 2020
- Deccan Herald/PTI: Delhi HC asks WhatsApp, Google to provide information sought by police, 14 Jan 2020
- Scroll: Police name masked woman in video, ABVP admits she is a member, 15 Jan 2020
- Deccan Herald/PTI: Delhi HC allows JNU students to register under old manuals, 24 Jan 2020
- Business Today: JNU announces partial roll-back in fee hike, 13 Nov 2019
- The Wire/Alt News: After ABVP blames Left for JNU student's injuries, he claims ABVP attacked him, 4 Feb 2020
- The Wire: A year after JNU violence, the investigation is going nowhere, 5 Jan 2021
- ThePrint: A year on, Delhi Police says probe in JNU violence in final stage, Apr 2021
- The Wire/PTI: No arrests made in 2020 JNU violence case, says MHA, 3 Aug 2021
- PTI via Business Standard: Police withdraw case against 36 in Gateway of India protest, 31 Jan 2023
- Careers360: JNUTA marks sixth anniversary of 5 January attack, 5 Jan 2026
- Newslaundry: Behind JNU's latest 'media trial', 8 Jan 2026