Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) staged a protest at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) here demanding expulsion of students who organised an event on Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru who was hanged in 2013. This comes a day after Guru’s third death anniversary.
The university administration has ordered a “disciplinary” enquiry into the issue as they said the event organisers “went ahead without permission.”
The event organisers had pasted posters across the campus inviting students to gather for a protest march against “judicial killing of Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhat” and in solidarity with the “struggle” of Kashmiri migrants at the Sabarmati dhaba in the campus.
University officials said the act amounted to “indiscipline” as any talk about disintegration of nation cannot be “national”, adding that a committee headed by the Chief Proctor of JNU would investigate the matter.
“It is an act of indiscipline as permission for the programme was sought by providing incomplete information. A committee headed by the Chief Proctor will examine the footage of the event and speak to the witnesses. The varsity will take appropriate action based on the report,” JNU Vice-Chancellor Jagadesh Kumar said.
Explaining the “incomplete information”, a varsity official said there was no mention of Afzal Guru in the permission letter. Members of the ABVP had on Tuesday objected to the event and wrote to the Vice-Chancellor saying such marches should not be held on the campus of an educational institution, prompting the university administration to order cancellation of the march fearing it might “disrupt peace in the campus.”
However, the organisers went ahead with the programme despite the cancellation of the permission, and held a “cultural programme.”
