Delhi Police arrested Ajay, a Jawaharlal Nehru University master’s student, on charges of attempted murder after he allegedly struck fellow student Saurabh with a meat cleaver during a confrontation on the first floor of Barak Hostel on 5 November, permanently damaging Saurabh’s right eye, officers said on Saturday.
Doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences trauma centre told investigators that Saurabh had lost vision in that eye and underwent surgery for severe facial, shoulder and hand injuries. Three other students were hurt when the dispute spread inside the hostel, police said.
How the assault unfolded
Police said the fight began around 3 p.m. after Ajay objected to Saurabh’s friendship with a woman student at the university. According to JNU’s account, Saurabh and the woman entered a room Ajay shared with another student, escalating into an argument on the hostel corridor.
Witnesses described blood traces from the first floor to the ground level. Vasant Kunj North police registered the case after the woman filed a complaint. Southwest Delhi Deputy Commissioner Amit Goyal said the inquiry would include how and when Ajay obtained the cleaver.
Campus response
The proctor’s office invoked Sections 32(1) and 32(3) of the JNU Act, 1966, warning that anyone sheltering the rusticated students on campus would face further discipline. The administration said it maintains grievance mechanisms and enforces a zero-tolerance policy on violence.
Hospital officials told reporters that four patients linked to the episode required trauma care, including tendon surgery for one student and stitches for the woman’s forearm. The clash coincided with heightened security routines across Delhi universities during the festival week, though JNU did not publicly tie the incident to broader political unrest.
What happens next
Investigators are still compiling hostel CCTV and witness statements while Saurabh remains under treatment. Faculty councils have called emergency meetings on weapon screening in residential blocks, but the university has not announced new entry rules.
Parents’ groups and student unions are pressing for faster proctorial findings, arguing that a cleaver attack inside a central Delhi hostel exposes gaps in dormitory supervision that routine ID checks have not closed.
Delhi Lieutenant Governor offices have not commented publicly, leaving JNU’s internal discipline process as the first visible response. Opposition legislators in the capital asked the home ministry whether hostel kitchens and service areas should face the same security sweeps as public markets during the festival week, when foot traffic surges across North Campus.