Acting Dean of Students’ Welfare V K Jain said, “I have heard the dog was killed in the room by a student and two of his guests. The action taken against him is appropriate.”

The wardens, meanwhile, have prepared a report on what they saw and heard in the early hours of Tuesday. Everybody in the Kaveri hostel was woken up by the animal’s wails around 2 am.

The yelps continued and within an hour they saw blood seeping out of room 248, where the PhD student — 30-year-old Yoronso from Nagaland — stayed.

Student Anand Saurabh said, “We demanded that Yoronso open the door. Inside, the animal was lying dead in a pool of blood. Yoronso and his two friends had beaten it with iron rods.” Another student said, “The dog’s head had been smashed and limbs dismembered.”

Senior warden of the hostel Andrew Lynn was not present that night, but he handed the eviction letter to Yoronso on Thursday and asked him to vacate the room by 5 pm.

Professor Jain said Yoronso, in his letter of apology to the authorities, had put forth “self-defence” as the reason. When Newsline tried to speak to Yoronso in campus on Thursday, he scurried away, shouting back that he had to take permission from his lawyer to speak to the media.

The student from Nagaland is in the fifth year of PhD in Political Sciences and was classified as a 9B student — or one who is on extension of a year. He was supposed to vacate the room by Thursday in any case. Students have questioned whether Yoronso had not been let off lightly. Some also said the authorities had at first tried to hush up the matter — removing the carcass and even cleaning the blood.

Meanwhile, animal rights practitioners have moved into campus with some calling JNU a “lawless slaughterhouse”. Lawyer Anjali Sharma of the Citizens for Animals — an association of animal sympathisers — said, “What happened in JNU is an offence under Section 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, and Sections 428 and 429 of the Indian Penal Code.” She added the police are also empowered to arrest such offenders without warrants.

NGO Citizens for Welfare and Protection of Animals had filed a complaint with the Vasant Vihar police station, but no FIR has been registered yet. Anjali Sharma said, “JNU is conducting an internal inquiry and once the result is out and a complaint lodged, the police cannot refuse an FIR.”

On the other hand, Professor Jain has said the university is open to any legal scrutiny.

Witnesses, activists shocked, varsity says this is a first
“There have been rumours of all kinds, but we can't do anything unless something comes to light. The student has been evicted and slapped with a fine of Rs 2,000. The police will take any action they think is appropriate. This is the first such case that has come to our knowledge”

Prof V K Jain
Acting Dean of Students' Welfare.

“When we asked Yoronso to open the door, we saw the dog in a pool of blood battered to death. The three had been beating the poor dog with iron rods”

Anand Saurabh
Resident of the hostel

“I was nauseated at the degree of cruelty involved and still can't sleep. The dog was mercilessly beaten to death, her head smashed with a heavy object and limbs dismembered,”

Student whose room is on the same floor as Yoronso

What is JNU? A centre for learning, or a depraved, lawless slaughter house?

Anjali Sharma
Lawyer associated with Citizens for Animals

“We even got a signature campaign done and 41 students signed it, recognising the cruelty against the dog. The university authorities did not find it as proof enough for the 'intentional' killing of the dog by those three people. In this case the police have decided not to register an FIR unless the results of the inquiry by the JNU, are known”