Skip to main content

Why is JNU administration hell-bent on violating High Court order, denying student leaders their right to education?

Kanhiya Kumar, Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya 
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*
It is criminal on part of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration to continue in their effort to destroy the career of students such as Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya and others, who have been imposed disproportionate fine and expulsion from hostel.
The Delhi High Court has asked the JNU administration to all these students and others to submit their PhD thesis and usages of the hostel facilities. Earlier, JNU student Dilip Yadav was harassed and asked to vacate the hostel.
Most of these scholars have been working for the rights of the fellow students in JNU for better facilities and participated in discussions in important issues facing the nation. It is clear that JNU administration does not want the students to discuss and debate.
It simply wants them to follow the Gurukul customs and the dictates of their dronacharyas. The lively environment of JNU which it was known for long is now replaced by the suffocating silence often disturbed by the noisy Sangh Parivar sponsored seminars and programmes where debate is not allowed. You can only listen to sermons.
It is deeply disturbing how the universities in India have become the hunting ground by these Sangh appointed vice chancellors and teachers who are denying discussions on public issues.
Universities like the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and the Hyderabad Central University (HCU) faced the same crisis. Elsewhere, too, students are forced to 'follow' and 'oblige'.
The BJP affiliates are doing things at their whims and fancies. In BHU, the vice chancellor had no shame in ordering lathicharge on girls who were protesting for safe environment and their protection from regular harassment by the anti-social elements. Rather than taking action against the goons, the vice-chancellor and the proctor ordered them not to go out in the evening.
Universities and colleges are places of free debate, where aspiring leaders, thinkers are writers are born. A continuous process to enable students to engage in constructive discussions and dialogues helps the process. If this is not allowed, we will not have spaces for free thought and political dissent.
It is shameful that, rather than engaging with students, the VC and the administration of the JNU are making all efforts to finish the career of the students. The administrations methods of punishment does not look like of those of intellectual fraternity of academia, but purely corrupted elite, which is afraid of higher education of Dalits, Adivasis and backwards as also other communities of Hindus and Muslims.
Even if students violated law or discipline, the university should have followed principle of justice. Rather than that, it behaved like Manu's whipping cord, violating the court's order and making out all its efforts to deny the students their legitimate entitlements.
Why is the JNU administration hell bent on denying the students their right to submit their theses and complete their respective courses when the Delhi high Court has passed its order unambiguously?
It look that the VC and his administration are following the guidelines of the political masters, which is disgraceful. One hopes that good sense will prevail and the university administration and the VC will show some maturity and behave as a guide of students and will not allow in bring more disgrace to his office. They must allow the scholars to finish their thesis and move ahead.
---
*Source: Author’s Facebook timeline

Comments

TRENDING

Planning failures? Mysuru’s traditional water networks decline as city expands

By Prajna Kumaraswamy, Mansee Bal Bhargava   The tropical land–water-scape of India shapes every settlement through lakes, ponds, wetlands, and rivers. Mysuru (Mysore) is a city profoundly shaped by both natural and humanly constructed water systems. For generations, it has carried a collective identity tied to the seasonal rhythms of the monsoon, the life-giving presence of the Cauvery and Kabini rivers , and the intricate network of lakes and ponds that dot the cityscape. Water transcends being merely a resource; it is part of collective memory, embedded in place names, agricultural heritage, and the very land beneath our feet. In an era of rapid urbanization and climate-induced land–water transformations, understanding this profound relationship with the land–water-scape is strategic for sustainability, resilience, and even survival.

Activists Akriti, Satyam Verma face NSA in Noida protest case: PUCL

By A Representative   Human rights activist Kavita Shrivastava has alleged that the Uttar Pradesh Police is invoking the National Security Act (NSA) against two activists associated with Mazdoor Bigul in connection with the Noida workers’ protest case, even as labour unrest continues to spread across industrial belts in several northern states.

Why was this BJP leader forced to call off marriage of his daughter with Muslim boy?

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  A marriage of two individuals belonging to different faiths was ultimately postponed as the 'champions' of the social morality dominated the discourse and threatened the father of the girl who happened to be the chairman of Pauri city municipality. Yashpal Benam, a BJP leader, posted the invitation of his daughter's wedding with a Muslim boy from Uttar Pradesh. Both the boy and the girl became friend during their B Tech course and were in relationship. There were reports that they already got married in the court but we don't know the reality. Perhaps the family of the girl wanted to send a message of 'acceptability' and 'appreciation' of such a marriage by the society. Invitations were sent to all but soon after it went wide spread on the social media, the champion of Hindu dharma jumped into the fray and started threatening the father. There were hundreds of calls asking the father hundreds of questions about the marriage. What...