Another Ph.D scholar at Jawaharlal Nehru University has alleged “unfair treatment” by the administration for her alleged role in the controversial February 9 event on the campus.
Chintu Kumari, a former JNU students’ union general secretary, has alleged that the university has blocked her M.Phil degree. The allegation comes days after two students — Shweta Raj and Rama Naga — claimed that JNU is refusing to give them their fellowship money.
University officials said that certain protocols have to be followed when any matter is being investigated, but maintained that they needed to check the details of this particular case.
Chintu Kumari, who is pursuing Ph.D in political science, was found “guilty” of violating disciplinary norms by the JNU high-level committee investigating the event organised to mark the death anniversary of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
While Ms. Kumari was issued a show-cause notice after the completion of the inquiry, she was not among the eight students debarred from academic activities pending an inquiry. “When I went to collect my M.Phil degree I was told that it has been blocked by the Chief Proctor’s office in connection with the February 9 incident,” Ms. Kumari said. She maintained that the degree in question is for an M.Phil course which she had completed a year ago, following which she enrolled herself in Ph.D.
A senior university official said: “I need to check whether Chintu Kumari’s mark sheet and degree have been blocked in connection with the February 9 incident, or is it something else.”
JNU is yet to announce the quantum of punishment for students “indicted” for “violating disciplinary norms of the university and disrupting communal harmony on campus”. Shweta Raj and Rama Naga, who were among the debarred ones, had last week alleged that JNU “denied” them their fellowships as their suspension had not been revoked yet. The university had termed it to be a “technical error” and said their grants will be disbursed.
Mr. Naga on Monday said: “There was no technical problem to disburse my fellowship by the JNU administration. The fellowship branch refused to provide my scholarship because of the debarment in the February 9 incident. The fellowship branch said that the finance branch of the university has ordered not to clear the fellowship of debarred students. Shweta Raj, convenor, JNUSU, was also told the same.”
