The report by the high-level inquiry committee on the February 9 Afzal Guru event on the campus is based entirely on eyewitness accounts and document trails since none of the eight debarred students deposed in front of the panel.
The committee, which was constituted on February 11, had on February 12 debarred eight students for their involvement in the incident and had issued notices to them to depose before it, which was inquiring the matter. However, none of the students deposed, citing issues with the composition of the committee.
The panel finally submitted its report on March 11. The faculty members and students feel it has raised more questions than providing answers.
One of the major discrepancies in the report, said students, is that there is no mention of Aishwarya Adhikari, who is one of the eight students debarred by the committee. Aishwarya’s name does not figure in any of the activities mentioned in the report, either at Sabarmati dhaba or Ganga dhaba.
Also, the report has not mentioned the names of all 21 students to whom the show-cause notices have been served.
While the show-cause notices served to Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya and Ashutosh Kumar say that they have been found “guilty of arousing communal, caste or regional feeling or creating disharmony among students”, the report does not clarify the reason for this charge.
The report says: “Umar, Anirban and Ashutosh addressed a meeting at Sabarmati dhaba. This was followed by sloganeering”.
It further mentions that slogans like “Kashmir ke azadi tak jang rahegi” and “Nagaland mange azadi”, “Manipur mange azadi” were shouted but it does not specify who shouted what slogans. It further mentions the presence of outsiders at the venue and attributes slogan shouting to them.
“How can the show-cause notice say that Ashutosh, Umar and Anirban are accused of causing communal disharmony when it is not even clear about their role. The only thing that it clearly mentions is that they addressed a meeting. This, is no way makes them guilty,” a senior faculty member at JNU, who did not wish to be named, said.
The report also mentions two new students — Mujeeb Gatto and Mohd. Quadeer — who were seen in close proximity of the outsiders and shouting slogans. Students found it strange that their names are being mentioned now and that too in isolation. “If they were in close proximity of the outsiders, so were other students. What is the point of picking up their names now,” asked a student.
Students also found it strange that if at all Gatto and Quadeer were involved in any act of indiscipline, why was it that their names were not among those debarred. “The university administration chose all the student representatives for debarring, just to prove a point. Umar and Anirban — former DSU, Ashutosh — former JNUSU president, Anant — former JNUSU vice president, Kanhaiya Kumar — JNUSU president, Rama — JNUSU vice president and Aishwarya and Shweta, who have been associated with GSCASH,” said another student.
