JNU Violence: Summon, seize mobile phones of members of WhatsApp groups, Friends of RSS, Unity against Left, Delhi HC directs Police

The Delhi High Court today directed the Delhi Police to summon and seize mobile phones of the members of the two WhatsApp groups, namely 'Friends of RSS' and 'Unity against Left', who were allegdly involved in planning the attack against the teachers, staff and students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University on January 5.

The Court also asked WhatsApp and Google to preserve and provide information related to the violence to the Delhi Police in accordance with their company policies, NDTV has reported.

The JNU Administration was also directed by the Court to provide to provide the CCTV footage of the violence sought by police, at the earliest.

The order was passed by a Single Judge Bench of Justice Brijesh Sethi in a petition by JNU professors, Ameet Parameswaran, Atul Sood, Shukla Vinayak Sawant, seeking preservation of all relevant material, data, information and evidence pertaining to the violence that took place on JNU campus on January 5.

In the petition filed through Advocates Maanav Kumar, Abhik Chimni and Roshini Namboodiry, the petitioners had claimed that the entire attack was premeditated and coordinated.

The petitioners had further stated that a significant amount of data, information, evidence and material pertaining to the violence was communicated through WhatsApp on grorups like 'Unity Against Left' and 'Friends of RSS'.

Yesterday, the Delhi Police had informed the Court that it was taking necessary steps with respect to the preservation of CCTV footage and WhatsApp data concerning the JNU violence.