JNUSU prez files murder bid plaint; anti-VC march today
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 8
St Stephen’s comes out in support
Hundreds of students of DU’s St Stephen’s College boycotted classes on Wednesday to oppose CAA, NRC and NPR by reading out the Preamble of the Constitution and announcing support for the violence-hit JNU community.
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Tensions over the JNU violence showed signs of escalation today with the JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) calling for a protest march tomorrow to seek the ouster of VC Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar and a rollback of hostel fee hike announced in October 2019.
Members of the JNU Teachers’ Association, JNUSU and others injured in the January 5 rioting on the campus will on Thursday march to Shastri Bhavan which houses the Ministry of Human Resource Development. The “Citizens March” will seek action against mob violence, inclusive public education and removal of the VC.
In parallel developments today, JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh, whom the Delhi Police booked on Tuesday for damaging university servers in an attempt to obstruct the semester registration process, filed a complaint of attempt to murder and sought an FIR on the same.
AMU: HC takes note
Allahabad HC has taken a stern view of police high-handedness over CAA protests in UP. It has sent a notice to the state over ‘police excesses’ in Muzaffarnagar and Bijnor and asked NHRC to probe AMU violence.
In the complaint, Ghosh said she could identify one of her attackers, alleging he was from the ABVP. The JNUSU chief also said the police was yet to record her statement even though she was an eye- witness and a victim of the January 5 violence on the university campus.
The police, which are yet to make arrests for the attack that left 35 injured, claimed they had gathered vital clues and were close to cracking the case.
Meanwhile, HRD Secretary Amit Khare summoned the VC and told him to be more interactive with students as well as teachers. The VC later said , “I met Mr Amit Khare and GC Hosur at the HRD Ministry and briefed them on steps being taken at JNU to bring normalcy. All efforts are being made to facilitate winter semester registration and a conducive environment for their academic pursuits.”
A beleaguered Jagadesh Kumar trashed media reports claiming he had advised the ministry to shut down the campus after the Sunday violence. The ministry too denied the report.
While the JNU administration worked all day to build a semblance of normalcy at the campus, signs of mass student mobilisation against the VC were evident with several students and JNU teachers expected to participate in the “Citizens March” tomorrow noon.
