he Jawaharlal Nehru University administration has steadfastly maintained that the 'high-level' inquiry committee appointed to look into the February 9 incident on the campus has been “fair” and “unbiased”, when it took the decision of debarring eight students. However, the students are alleging that two of the members in the committee have in the past positioned themselves as anti-reservation and anti-students.
According to students, what is more worrying is that four of the eight students who have been debarred belong to the reserved category. The eight students who have been debarred included Kanhiaya Kumar, now in judicial custody under sedition charges, Rama Naga, General Secretary of the student's union, Anirban Bhattacharya, Ashutosh Kumar, Anant Prakash, Aishwarya Adhikari, Shweta Raj and Umar Khalid.
Of the eight students, Rama Nagar who comes from Boipariguda district in Odisha is a dalit. He is an M.Phil scholar at JNU's Centre for Political Studies. Anant Prakash who is from Mirzapur in UP is also a dalit student. He is currently pursuing his M.Phil from Centre for the Study of Law and Governance.
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Two other students from the reserved OBC/SC/ST category are Ashutosh Kumar and Shweta Raj. Ashutosh, the son of a rail worker in Barh, Bihar, he is pursuing his PhD from School of International Studies and Shweta Raj, who is from Varanasi and was pursuing her PhD from School of Language.
“Rama Naga, who is the general secretary, comes from the most backward village of Odisha. We all know how he has been able to make it in the university and has become a part of the union. Shweta, Anant, Ashutosh, all of them are from extremely humble backgrounds. Also Umar Khalid belongs to minority,” a JNU student Sucheta De, said.
The students have time and again raised the issue that the committee looking into the matter is not “fair” as it does not have representatives from the reserved category, minority or any woman. A memorandum signed by 2000 students of the university, was also submitted to the administration on February 16, asking them to take back the decision of debarring students.
“Through the memo we also raised concerns about the constitution of the committee, which consists of the anti-reservation Youth for Equality. Also, the committee has no representation from women, minorities or reserved class,” JNUSU Vice President Shehla Rashid Shora said.
The three member inquiry panel constituted by the university includes prof Rakesh Bhatnagar, School of Biotechnology, prof Himadri Bohidar, School of Physical Sciences and prof Suman K. Dhar, School of Molecular Medicine.
According to the university students, Mr. Bhatnagar has in the past been very vocal about his anti-reservation ideas. He was also the founder member of the Youth for Equality cell in the campus, that was started in the campus after 27 per cent quota for OBC students was introduced in 2007.
“Students who have been a part of the university are very well aware of Mr. Bhatnagar's stand. He was the founder of the Youth for Equality (YFE) cell in the campus and had also supported the movement against reservation. He had led the protest against reservation from front,” said a Sandeep Kumar former JNU student's union president, who was a part of the university in the year 2007.
“In 2007 when students from YFE were contesting the student's union election and a trend started emerging that they are winning some seats, Mr. Bhatnagar started shouting slogans like “merit ko jagah do” . He has been vocally anti-reservation and managed everything from the funds to the composition of the cell,” he added.
Mr. Bohidar who was the chief proctor of the university in the year 2006, has also had a past of taking action against students. He had in the year 2006 suspended the entire student's union.
“After about a week of protests for the rights of labourers, who had been evicted from the campus, when we tried to meet the Registrar, he did not meet us. We had to then stop the Registrar's car and make our point heard but this did not go down well with the then Chief Proctor Mr. Bohidar and he suspended the entire student’s union,” Mr. Kumar added.
While the two professors refused to comment on the issue, calls and messages on this issue, to Registrar Bhupinder Zutshi went unanswered.
The JNU administration has refused to change the composition of the inquiry panel, stating that according them, the committee is “fair”. The administration also said that if after two repeated summons if the students do not depose in front of the panel, a decision will be taken on the basis of evidence available to them.