5 students won’t surrender, JNU rallies to their support

Amid standoff, police waits outside campus

The JNU campus stood firm on Monday behind all five students, charged in the sedition case, who had resurfaced at the campus on Sunday night. JNU students and teachers appealed to vice-chancellor M. Jagdish Kumar to take a firm stand for the five students. All through Monday, a human chain of JNU security guards, teachers, students and others stood guard at the university administrative block where the five had taken refuge. A delegation of 300-odd faculty members also met the VC demanding the withdrawal of sedition and criminal charges against all the students accused of allegedly raising anti-national slogans at an event to mark the anniversary of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru’s execution. Under severe attack over the handling of the JNU row, Delhi police commissioner B.S. Bassi, after briefing lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung on the day’s developments, said it was for the students to prove their innocence. He said the police was verifying all the video clips it had used for its probe.

The university also granted a seven-day extension to the high-level committee it had set up to inquire into the controversial event. Union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju said the police will act as per the law against the five students. All eyes will be on the Delhi high court on Tuesday as it hears the bail plea of JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar, charged with sedition, who has claimed he was “falsely implicated” in the case as he hadn’t raised any anti-national slogan.

Police officials, who have been positioned outside the JNU campus since Sunday night after they got information about the five students’ presence on campus, said they will talk to the VC and ask him to direct the students to surrender. But JNU’s students and teachers were firm that the police should not be allowed inside the campus. Fearing the students might become the victim of “lynch mobs”, JNU Students Union vice-president Shehla Rashid Shora sought the National Human Rights Commission’s intervention to ensure the safety of the family of Umar Khalid, allegedly the mastermind behind the controversial February 9 event. Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday accused the government of “muzzling” the voice of the Opposition, civil society and students. The BJP said the JNU administration should hand over the accused students to the Delhi police, adding that those who were “protecting” them should let the law take its own course. Indicating the Centre’s firm stand, agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh said “anti-national” sloganeering by anyone would not be tolerated.

The Supreme Court, however, made it clear it wouldn’t broaden the scope of its hearing, and will confine itself to the violent incident in which journalists and JNU students and teachers were attacked at the Patiala House courts on February 15.

The five students — Umer Khalid, Anirban, Rama Naga, Anant Prakash and Ashutosh Kumar — had resurfaced at the campus on Sunday night. Asked about their whereabouts since February 12, the five said they went into hiding fearing mob lynching and not the Delhi police. “We were lying low and didn’t come out in public as we feared mob lynching, not the police,” Rama Naga, a JNUSU leader, said. Earlier, Umer Khalid, addressing students in front of the administrative block, said he was not a terrorist, saying the BJP government “needed an excuse to target the campus”. Mr Khalid said for the first time he came to know about certain things which he was not aware of. “I came to know I have been to Pakistan twice. But I do not have any passport. JNU students have a wonderful mind, but I came to know that I am the mastermind of the event,” he said to cheers from his supporters. Mr Khalid said for the first time in the past few days he was made to feel he was a Muslim. “These people are telling us about patriotism. They may have a majority, but they are scared of us... they are scared of our struggle, they are afraid of us because we think,” he said.

While the university authorities and teachers threw a security cordon around the five students, the VC held a series of meetings with the authorities. The teachers also requested the VC to remove registrar Bhupinder Zutshi, saying he was a RSS agent. The delegation’s request to expand the probe committee looking into the February 9 event was also turned down by the university. JNU, on its part, granted a seven-day extension to the high-level panel. The JNU registrar said the committee sought more time as it needed to properly examine the evidence. “We granted an extension of seven days.”

The panel comprising professors was supposed to submit its report by February 22. The deadline has now been put off to March 3. The registrar said the university had full faith in its committee as it includes senior professors who will come up with a detailed and fair report. The VC said: “The students who were asked to appear before the panel had last week refused to participate in the inquiry, citing the ‘unjust’ suspension of eight students,” he said.

The JNU authorities, however, said the students will be given three chances to appear before the disciplinary committee. If they fail to do so, the committee will finalise its recommendations on the basis of evidence, eyewitness accounts, students’ deposition (if any) and the material available at hand.

On their part, the students said they will not surrender as the charges against them were false, while the police chief asked them to join investigations and prove their innocence. Mr Bassi said the police was looking for five students, and they should join the investigation. He said: “If they are innocent, they should produce evidence of their innocence. The Delhi police is a law-abiding body and we do not indulge in any injustice against anybody. One should also remember the police comes first in the ladder of justice.”

On the other hand, the ABVP alleged the five students who have now resurfaced were hiding in JNU professors’ residences and demanded an inquiry by the university administration. “We are very certain these students are hiding in campus residences of professors. We demand an inquiry. The teachers supporting these students should also be penalised,” Saurabh Kumar Sharma, JNUSU joint secretary and lone ABVP member, said at a press meet.