A clash broke out between two students' groups at Chandrabhaga Hostel on the campus of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi on 1 August 2006.

According to a complaint lodged at Vasant Vihar police station by Saurav Kamal, a Dalit student in the School of Languages, his classmate Maninder Chauhan made casteist remarks against him. A counter-complaint, however, was lodged by Chauhan that Kamal and his brother Amritash assaulted him and his two friends. Both the complaints were later withdrawn.

An inquiry committee consisting of five wardens of both the hostels, Chandrabhaga and Lohit whose residents were involved in the clash, has been set up by Vice Chancellor BB Bhattacharya.

The Vice Chancellor said, "I was told by security officers that a Dalit student was abused by one of his classmates on caste-based lines at Chandrabhaga hostel. Strict action will be taken against the student if the inquiry committee finds him guilty. The inquiry report will be submitted soon."

Apparently, Saurav and Maninder have ideological differences as the former is a member

of the Left-backed Students' Federation of India (SFI) and Maninder belongs to JNU Patriotic Front (JPF), a group formed by students ousted by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) last year.

"It was around midnight that Saurav along with his brother and friends barged into room Number 20, which belongs to my friends, Yashwant Singh and Rahul Tulsia. They started abusing me and also threatened that I should maintain a low profile or face consequences,” Maninder said. “They can throw me out of campus using his father Raja Ram Prasad's high-profile contacts and then slapped me twice. His father is a DSP in Jamshedpur," he alleged.

Maninder added, "When I protested, the others in the group started hitting me. My hostel mates Yashwant, Rahul and others were back in a moment and protested. Soon a fight broke out between the two groups. It continued till 2.30 am till the security officer was called and we were taken to the police station."

Both Saurav and Maninder belong to Japanese department but recently the former got through the entrance test of BA (Spanish). Saurav is a resident of Lohit hostel while Maninder stays at Room Number 136 in Chandrabhaga.

However, Amritash is an ex-student of JNU. Saurav's supporters, however, have a different version. Dhananjay Tripathi, JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) vice-president said, "Maninder abused Saurav on caste-based lines for several months. So Saurav went to Maninder to ask him not to create any caste-based differences. But Maninder's friends beat them up.”

(Source: The Times of India)