JNUTA demands termination of varsity security agency over theft cases

New Delhi, January 2

The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) has demanded termination of the agency responsible for security on the campus, alleging a spate of robberies in faculty residences.

JNUTA president Milap Sharma said the security agency had neither “taken action on previous burglaries nor strengthened vigilance on the ground”.

“The fact that Cyclops has not reported on the action taken on previous burglaries nor strengthened vigilance on the ground, leading to fresh cases of lawlessness, confirms the utter failure of the agency to disburse its responsibility in providing 24/7 security to residents on campus,” Sharma said in a statement.

“That these burglaries are happening in broad daylight and at a time when the presence of students and outsiders is thin is most worrying,” he added.

On January 1, the residence of professor Shefali Jha was broken into, before which the houses of her neighbours, professor Avijit Pathak and Sabaree Mitra were also burgled, he said.

The JNUTA had demanded action against Cyclops after violence inside the university campus on January 5 last year, accusing the security agency of allowing unrestricted entry of outsiders on to the campus.

“It is pertinent to note that till date that the administration has neither rebuked the agency nor taken any action for the breach in security, that culminated in an unprecedented, criminal wave of terror being unleashed across campus,” the statement read.

The association demanded the administration to take full responsibility for the lapses in security and bring out an action taken to report on all the incidents of theft in the last two years.

The teachers of JNU also reiterated their previous demands including the termination of the Cyclops security agency, compensation to the affected faculty, and devising a new security plan after consulting with all the stakeholders.

“As a residential university, the security of residents is of prime concern and the administration must answer for its repeated failures in addressing these concerns,” they said. — PTI