APSC comes in support of Sooraj

While some students gathered near the IIT director’s residence demanding action, six of Sooraj’s friends from Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle (APSC) interacted with the media and listed the evidence and documents against Manish Kumar Singh, an Ocean Technology student and the main accused in the attack on Sooraj.

Arjun Jayakumar of APSC said, “After we organised the beef fest inside the campus on Monday, I was returning to my hostel. Manish stopped and threatened me that he will chop me off and everybody who ate beef. The next day, he attacked Sooraj.” 

Swaminathan K, another student, added that there have been previous incidents, where formal complaints have been registered against Manish. “On February 2016, a solidarity march was organised by general student body for the attack inside JNU, where Manish threatened the organisers. An event was organised in August last year by ChintaBar called ‘Pellets in Paradise,’ a discussion on Kashmir. Here too, he disrupted the event. We have the record of the official complaints to the administration. The grievance cell also suggested him to take the help of a counsellor,” said Swaminathan.

Meanwhile, a few clips that were circulated on social media since Wednesday onwards showed Manish Kumar Singh in the hospital and articles suggesting that it was Sooraj who had provoked him. The write-up alleged that Sooraj tried to force feed beef to the students who were present inside the Jain canteen.