The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teacher’s Association (JNUTA) has condemned the filing of a police complaint against a hostel warden, who along with two others stopped a religious ceremony (havan) inside a hostel room due to the fire threat that it posed.
The JNUTA said that a group of students were unnecessarily giving a religious twist to the issue.
A complaint, which amounts to hurting religious sentiments, sexual harassment and the Prevention of Atrocities Act was filed against Burton Cleetus, one of the three wardens of Jhelum hostel, who stopped a group of boys from performing the havan.
On November 21, Burton Cleetus and two other wardens, Himanshu and Ashutosh Anand, received a complaint from a resident about an open fire being used for a havan inside one of the hostel rooms. The wardens immediately asked the students to put out the fire.
A member of JNUTA said: “There were about twenty people in the room. The wardens asked these students to disperse peacefully but a few persons began to argue that Hindus were not being allowed to practice their religious rituals in the celebration of a birthday. The crowd dispersed. The wardens, after consultation with the Provost office, issued a show cause notice to two people for creating a fire hazard in the hostel.”
“On November 23, Mr. Cleetus received a call from the Vasant Kunj police station saying that a police complaint had been filed against him,” the JNUTA member added.
According to the investigating police officer, the complaint filed against him mentioned that Mr. Cleetus kicked the havan samagri (prayer material), pulled a student’s ponytails and uttered casteist, communal, and sexist abuses.
The JNUTA has asked the Gender Sensitisation Committee against Sexual Harassment to enquire into the sexual harassment charges and appoint an internal investigation committee into the incident.
A social media post by Professor Ayesha Kidwai, a JNU faculty member, said: “These false allegations against Mr. Cleetus have been widely shared on WhatsApp and social media. A group is trying to malign him because of his religious identity”.
“The JNUTA called a meeting on Friday and unanimously condemned this attempt at communal polarisation and demanded from the JNU administration that it must give legal protection and security to Mr. Cleetus,” the varsity teacher added.
