The administration of Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University on Sunday said the protest by the students’ union and the teachers’ association against the attendance rule has brought the campus to a standstill. “Some students of the School of Arts and Aesthetics have put a lock to the entrance to the building and prevented teachers, staff and students from entering the building since March 15,” reads the press release issued by JNU Registrar Pramod Kumar.
The university management issued a circular in December 2017, saying it was planning to make 75% attendance for all courses compulsory. On Tuesday, the varsity set up an inquiry committee against department heads who had complained to the administration against the attendance rule, and removed seven of them as well as a coordinator.
The administration on Sunday once again defended its attendance rule, and said it was in accordance with the official processes of the academic and executive councils. It added that the decision to remove seven departmental heads and a coordinator was taken by the Executive Council. “Unfortunately, the JNUSU and JNUTA both are opposing the decision taken by the highest statutory body of the university. What can be worse than this for a university!” Its statement added that protests have also affected nearby residential areas.
While the JNU Students’ Union said the administration’s decision to remove seven departmental heads and one coordinator was dictatorial, the teachers’ association called for a protest against what they described as the authoritarian functioning of the varsity administration.
The association demanded that the vice chancellor immediately withdraw the notification of removal of these faculty members and reinstate them. It said the removal of members is also an attempt to crush the difference of opinion on various academic matters.
Students ask DCW to intervene in harassment case
The JNU students union on Saturday asked the Delhi Commission for Women to intervene in the case of alleged sexual harassment by a School of Life Sciences professor. The accused, Atul Kumar Johri, resigned from his administrative positions on Friday on “moral grounds” after the Delhi Police registered a sexual harassment case against him. The case was registered on Thursday after seven students in the varsity filed complaints against him.
The students’ union demanded that Johri be suspended. “It is more than 36 hours since the FIR was filed, but still no action has been taken against him,” JNUSU President Geeta Kumari told PTI. “He continues to enjoy his privileges in the JNU campus. The JNU administration has not even suspended him from his academic duties.”
The students’ union alleged that the administration was shielding the accused. “By promising to take up investigation through Internal Complaints Committee, the JNU administration has clearly shown its intention to provide safe passage to the professor,” said JNUSU.
The students also accused the police of delaying action. “The Delhi Police has done only token follow up of the FIR that was filed by the complainants. The delay in recording statements is a clear sign of nexus between the police and administration,” Kumari told PTI.
Johri, however, has claimed that the allegation against him was a “motivated move” with vested interests.
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