Students of Jawaharlal Nehru University will go on an indefinite hungerstrike from Wednesday against the report of the high-level inquiry committee that meted out punishments to a group of students al
Students of Jawaharlal Nehru University will go on an indefinite hungerstrike from Wednesday against the report of the high-level inquiry committee that meted out punishments to a group of students allegedly linked to the controversial Afzal Guru event on the campus in February.
The defiant students also asserted they will not pay fines imposed by the committee and vacate hostels as ordered by the university. The students said they will continue the hungerstrike till the committee’s orders are withdrawn.
“We have decided that none of the students will pay the fine or vacate their hostels. We demand that the university administration withdraws these orders as we have maintained right from the beginning that we do not have faith in this inquiry panel and it should be reconstituted,” JNUSU vice-president Shehla Rashid Shora said.
“We will begin an indefinite hungerstrike from tomorrow (Wednesday) after staging a protest march from the Ganga Dhaba till the administration block. The decision has been well-timed by the university officials to avoid any protests as summer break is about to begin, but we will not bow down and will continue our fight.
The university said that the students have an option of filing an appeal before the chief proctor if they are not satisfied with the committee’s decision. They are supposed to vacate hostels immediately and pay fine by May 17, the university added.
The students, supported by JNUTA, on Tuesday held a protest march and burned the report, which it described as “casteist and autocratic,” and criticised arbitrary punishments.
“We have rejected the so-called high-level inquiry committee right from the day it was setup as an undemocratic and biased one, so there is no point accepting the punishment meted out to us on basis of its findings,” JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar said at a press conference.
He questioned vice-chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar’s hurry in announcing the decision after he came back from his leave as he did not address issues such as hostel shortage, OBC reservation, and deprivation points for admission. “This administration is running from phone calls coming from outside,” he said.
Even, five ABVP members went on a hungerstrike on Tuesday against the imposition of penalty of Rs 10,000 on Saurabh Sharma, the JNUSU joint secretary.
“I was the one to object to an anti-national event and I have been penalised and equated with Kanhaiya. We had spoken to the administration demanding strict punishment against the ones who have been found guilty and withdrawal of my fine.”
A delegation of the JNU Teachers’ Association met the vice-chancellor and raised concern over the punishment orders. “It was an unfruitful meeting. We have decided to call an emergent general body meeting on Thursday to decide on future course of action,” a JNUTA member said.
The JNU students and teachers were also angry over the severity of punishment awarded to Anirban Bhattacharya by the committee as compared to Umar Khalid, but university officials said the decision was taken after taking into account the students’ record of conduct.
The found Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya guilty of “arousing communal violence and disrupting harmony on campus.” Mr Khalid was rusticated for one semester and imposed a penalty of Rs 20,000 and Mr Bhattacharya has been rusticated till July 15 and debarred from taking up any course for next five years.
Mr Bhattacharya has been given a window of a week (July 15-23) to submit his thesis, failing which he will have to start his Ph.D. afresh after five years at JNU though he is eligible to enrol in any other university at any time.
“The two cases cannot be compared. The chief proctor’s office has taken into account not only the committee’s report, but also the previous record of the students’ conduct,’ a senior university official said.
