JNU violence: Masked girl in viral picture of mob attack is Delhi University student Komal Sharma?

In the evening on January 5, a masked mob armed with sticks and rods stormed hostels in Jawaharlal Nehru University, ransacking rooms and beating up students and teachers. Nearly three dozen people were injured. The violence was allegedly coordinated through a WhatsApp group called “Unity against Left”.

The goons, reportedly associated with the Sangh Parivar’s student wing, the ABVP, also heckled journalists and prevented them from covering the attack even from outside the campus.

Soon, from videos and pictures of the violence, social media users identified one of the masked girls involved in the mob attack as Komal Sharma of the ABVP’s Delhi University chapter. Indeed, Sharma’s own now-deleted Facebook profile identified her as an ABVP member.

On Facebook, one Apoorv Thakur claimed Sharma was “a junior of my sister in school as well as in college”. He put up a screenshot of a conversation that Sharma purportedly had with his sister regarding the JNU attack. Thakur also made public a voice message in which Sharma is heard admitting, in Thakur’s words, that “she was there causing the mayhem”.

Asked about his post, Thakur told Newslaundry: “I am not associated with her, my sister saw her viral pictures. She knows her because she was her school junior. She contacted her on Instagram because she thought the masked girl was her. She wasn’t sure, though, since her face was covered. So, she asked her casually, as you can see from the message, that she had seen her near Munirka wearing these clothes. Komal said yes, she was there. Then she realised my sister must have seen the viral photo. That’s when she messaged her a voice note saying please don’t mention this to anyone. She’s currently a student in Daulat Ram College, University of Delhi.”

Thakur’s sister, Anuja, later confirmed as much in an Instagram post.

After the picture went viral, Sharma deactivated her social media accounts. Newslaundry tried reaching her for a comment but to no avail. This story will be updated if we get a response.