JU remains tense as protesting students disrupt sports event

Arteev Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 23

A day after students indulged in violence and damaged the official property, the situation continued to remain tense on the Jammu University (JU) campus on Friday with the protesters disrupting a major sports event and forcing the cancellation of various exams.

Acting tough against the students who ransacked the Vice Chancellor secretariat and the office of Dean Students Welfare (DSW), the university administration has suspended another student, taking the number to five.

Nishant Gupta, a postgraduate student of Buddhist studies department, was suspended till pending inquiry on Friday and his entry inside the university, including hostels, was also barred. He was, along with other students, involved in damaging the gate of the VC secretariat and the property of the DSW office.

On Thursday, four students, including Sunny Parihar, Abhinandan Sharma, Rishikesh Bhardwaj, and Satvinder Singh, were suspended for indulging in violence and their entry to the campus was banned. On Friday, the protesting students, including those who were suspended for indulging in violence, took out a march on the campus and asked the students to boycott their classes. They also forced the cancellation of all minor exams being conducted in different academic departments of the university.

Later, they went to the gymnasium ground of the university where the inaugural function of the second state universities sports championship was being held. J&K State Sports Council secretary Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra was the chief guest and VC Prof RD Sharma presided over the event. The authorities had to stop the event mid-way as the students started raising slogans against the university in support of their demand. The protesting students took away the mikes from the organisers and insisted for a reply from the VC on their issues.

After an hour-long hullabaloo, the VC asked the students to list their issues and assured them of reply. The protesters listed about 18 issues confronting the student community, including the revocation of suspension of five students and action against the DSW. Unhappy over the VC’s response, the protesters decided to continue their protest and said they would not allow the university to function till their demands were met. Later, they visited different departments and forced the students to boycott their classes. However, DSW Prof Satnam Kour regretted that the police did not take any action against the protesters who were named in the complaint lodged by the university in the violence that took place on Thursday. “The students who were involved in violence and damaging the official property should have been called for questioning, but nothing has happened so far. We had requested the police to ensure that they don’t enter the campus, but they again managed to do so and disrupted the sports event,” the DSW added.

When contacted, the VC said, “We have again written to the Director General of Police (DGP) and Inspector General of Police (IGP), Jammu, who have assured to look into the matter and take necessary action in this regard.” He said a high-level committee had been constituted to conduct an inquiry into the circumstances that lead to the violence on the campus.

What led to protest

A protest by students over Wi-Fi facility and quality food in hostels turned ugly on Thursday when the Dean Students Welfare was allegedly manhandled by agitating students at the campus gate locked by them. Following which, she thrashed a student.