Professor Prasanta Chakraborty lies in Bara Hindu Rao Hospital

New Delhi, Feb. 22: Delhi University English teacher Prasanta Chakraborty was standing on the road outside Ramjas College when he was attacked from behind.

"There were around 15 of them. They pushed me down, kicked and punched me and tried to strangle me with my muffler," he said this evening.

A student, Burhan Qureshi, was hit on the head by a flying glass bottle.

At least three reporters were thrashed and had their cameras and phones smashed.

Delhi University's Ramjas College turned into a battleground today after ABVP activists attacked a student march to demand action against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-backed union for disrupting a seminar series at the college yesterday.

The ABVP, which controls the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) and the Ramjas College Students Union (RCSU), had disrupted the event in protest against JNU activists Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid being invited for the seminar.

Today, students from several Delhi colleges and universities, led by the SFI and the CPIML-Liberation backed All India Students Association (AISA), marched from Ramjas College to Maurice Nagar police station to demand action against the ABVP.

The ABVP activists first blocked the college gates to prevent the 2.5km march from starting. They disrupted a gathering of protesters inside the college and assaulted any suspected Left activist on the road outside.

"All the while," Chakraborty said, "the police stood as mute spectators watching me get thrashed." Chakraborty has been admitted to Bara Hindu Rao Hospital with at least two other teachers and several students.

Through the afternoon, from 2.15pm when the march started, the police restrained the ABVP members in buses before letting them free again. They threw a cordon around the marchers and occasionally caned ABVP members who tried to breach it. DCP (North) Jatin Narwal, who supervised the police action, said no one had been detained.

Narwal, earlier DCP (New Delhi), had supervised security when mobs ran riot in the Patiala House Courts for two days when JNU leader Kanhaiya Kumar was presented before a magistrate a year ago.

In a statement this evening, the police said two IPS officers would probe the violence. "An FIR under sections of rioting and assault on public servant has been registered against unknown persons. Seven police personnel, including the SHO (station house officer) of Maurice Nagar police station, Arti Sharma, were injured in the incident. An assistant sub-inspector sustained a hairline fracture," the statement said.

An officer said all complaints by students might be clubbed with this FIR.When the march began despite the violence, this reporter saw several marchers being cornered, dragged away and thrashed by groups led by DUSU president Amit Tanwar, vice-president Priyanka Chhawri, general secretary Ankit Sangwan, RCSU president Yogit Rathi and other ABVP leaders.

"Maro, AISA wala hai," yelled Yogit as he and his supporters punched JNU student Aman Kumar and this reporter at the Ramjas bus stop.

When this reporter identified himself, Yogit apologised. "We did not want violence," he later told this paper. "But this will continue as long as the communists try to turn DU into JNU. Anti-nationals and their slogans won't be allowed here."

Shehla, who was clicking pictures, was dragged by her hair by three ABVP women activists and kicked before being rescued by the police and AISA activists. The marchers hit back, ripping off ABVP law faculty leader Anurag Gautam's kurta and punching one of the women who assaulted Shehla.

Shehla picked up a stone that had hit a marcher in her chest and handed it to a head constable. "You have chosen to be blind today," she said dropping it into his palm. "You have failed in your duty."

Nandita Narain, president of the Federation of Central University Teachers Associations, accompanied 19 students who filed complaints at the police station.

"They want to kill this university. The police said that if we file complaints, the ABVP will also file. I asked them what their job was," she said.

Joint CP Virender Singh said the police would investigate complaints from both sides.

Delhi University has suspended classes tomorrow.

"Universities are supposed to be safe spaces for debate and discussion. But the events at Ramjas College are a shameful reminder of how intimidation and threats continue to restrict free speech on university campuses. Authorities need to protect academic freedom, which is crucial to the right to education," Amnesty International India's executive director Aakar Patel said in a statement.

Shopkeepers downed shutters as scuffles broke out near DU. "We've never seen such violence since the Mandal Commission agitation," said a paratha seller as he shut shop in Christian Colony opposite the police station.

Ramjas College has set upan inquiry to probe the violence on its campus.