Biometric systems, CCTVs at JNU’s server room not vandalised in first week of Jan: RTI reply

New Delhi, January 22

Biometric systems and CCTV cameras at the server room were not vandalised in the first week of January, contrary to the claims made by the Jawaharlal Nehru University administration that students had destroyed them on January 3, the varsity has said in a RTI reply.

The reply to the RTI filed by Saurav Das, a member of the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI), under “life and liberty” clause, said the main server of JNU at the Centre for Information System (CIS) was shut down on January 3 and had gone down the next day “due to power supply disruption”.

The varsity’s reply also stated that “no continuous and entire” CCTV footage of cameras installed at North/Main gate of the JNU campus from 3 pm to 11 pm on January 5 was available, the day when masked men had entered the campus, and attacked students and teachers with iron rods and sledgehammers. 

The JNU administration, in an FIR, had claimed that on January 3, a group of students wearing masks had forcibly entered the CIS and switched off the power supply, making the servers dysfunctional, thereby affecting a range functions, including CCTV surveillance, biometric attendance and internet services.

“The main server of JNU was shut down on January 3 and had gone down the next day due to power supply disruption”.

“None of the CCTV cameras were vandalised from December 30, 2019 to January 8, 2020,” the varsity, in its response to the RTI, said.

The response also said a total of 17 fibre optical cables were damaged on January 4 at 1 pm. ‘None’ of the biometric systems were broken or destroyed from December 30, 2019 to January 8, 2020, it said. 

The RTI had also sought information on whether the CIS office contains the servers of the CCTV cameras in and around the campus. To this, the reply stated that the servers of CCTV cameras are located in data centre and not at CIS office.

The RTI reply also said “the details of locations of CCTV cameras cannot be provided due to security reasons and concerns”.

Das received the reply to a RTI filed by him on January 9. 

The RTI also asked details of the total number of times the JNU website was not functioning due to technical snag or problem since December 25, 2019 to January 8, 2020.

The reply stated that the varsity’s website was functioning during this period since it is “critical” and “a logical public face of the university”.

“It was running from alternate backup arrangement during this period,” the varisty said in its response.

All FIRs in-line with Jan 3 incidents, no deviation from facts: JNU

Meanwhile, the Jawaharlal Nehru University said all FIRs and other complaints filed with police are in-line with the incidents that took place on January 3 and do not deviate from facts after an RTI suggested discrepancies in the varsity administration’s claims about vandalism in its server room.

The university said its reply to the RTI was related to the specific location and questions sought by the applicant. It also clarified that the servers were damaged by “a group of miscreants” on January 4.

“As per the complaint filed by administration on January 3, 2020 about the incident in Centre for Information System (CIS) Data Centre, JNU has not claimed about damage to servers on that day. The RTI answers are correct and specific to the questions asked,” the varsity said.

The RTI response also clearly states that servers are located at CIS Data Centre not in CIS office, which seems to be “conspicuously ignored while highlighting the matter in the media”, it said.

“All FIRs and other complaints filed with police are in-line with the actual incidents that took place on January 3 and do not deviate from actual facts,” it said.

The JNU administration reiterates that a group of masked students came to CIS Data Centre premises on January 3 and forcibly evicted the technical staff, switched off the power supply, locked the premises and squatted in front of the main entrance to the CIS Data Centre without providing any access to the centre, the varsity said.

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