The recent violence in JNU where masked goons entered the campus with rods and hammers saw several students and faculty members severely injured. The police and security apparently also looked on and let the brutality continue unabated.
According to Hindustan Times, as the mob broke into Sabarmati Hostel however, 9 staff members of the hostel mess stepped in to protect 30 students from being attacked.
Radhe Shyam, who has been working in the hostel mess since 1985, said that he saw the mob approaching at around 6.30 pm. He immediately rushed into the building and asked the students in the corridors to get into the mess.
Shyam also detailed how he and his colleagues hid around 30 students in a store room and locked all the entry and exits of the mess.
Those who were roaming in the corridors rushed to the mess. There were around 30 students. Some of them were from other hostels, who were visiting their friends. We first locked the entry and exits of the mess and then hid those students in a room, where we store our groceries.
Monica Bishnoi, the president of Sabarmati hostel, also praised the bravery of the staff, who took up the mantle of security for the hostel when the warden was not around. She said that they could have easily escaped and left the students to fend for themselves, but didn’t.
The goons didn’t even spare the differently abled. Rakesh Kumar, who works as a helper in the mess, is paralysed on the left side of his body. He now has several bruises on his legs as he could not run.