The JNU students’ union on Tuesday “rejected outright” the punishments announced by the university and termed the High-Level Enquiry Committee (HLEC) “casteist” and “anti-reservation”.
The students, along with the members of the JNU teachers’ association, burnt pages of the report and said they would sit on an indefinite hunger strike from Wednesday.
“We had opposed the formation of the HLEC earlier and now we reject the punishments given to students based on the recommendations of the same panel. When the committee is questionable, its result will always be questionable. It is a casteist and anti-reservation committee, which was headed by Rakesh Bhatnagar, the head of youth for equality cell, who is known for his caste-based treatment with students,” JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar said. He is one of the punished students.
The JNU administration had on Monday announced punishment for 14 students, including PhD scholars Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, in connection with an event on the campus marking the death anniversary of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
The university administration has said it will stick to its decision in the matter. “We will go by whatever has been written in the letters sent to these students,” JNU Registrar Pramod Kumar told The Hindu.
