The Delhi Police have registered a First Information Report (FIR) against a student of Jawaharlal Nehru University for allegedly not adhering to the lockdown guidelines on April 1 and manhandling the security staff.
Police said that the student has been identified as Pranav Menon, who came to the North Gate of the university around 8 p.m. and asked the security staff to let him go outside.
The staff denied him the permission and said that they won’t allow him to leave the premises unless he has permission from the authorities, because otherwise that would be a violation of the lockdown.
Mr. Menon, an M. Phil Student at the Centre for the Study of Law and Governance, responding to the FIR filed against him, alleged that the JNU administration and Cyclops security agency were trying to malign his name by filing a complaint as he had received the permission to exit the campus from the warden of Tapti hostel.
“I made clear that I had no intention of returning in view of the lockdown and my respect and consideration for my fellow students on campus. My reason to leave was because my friend was unwell and could not carry on alone in his residence. I had the requisite permission and I had not acted without any just cause,” he said.
According to the FIR, the student allegedly told the staff that if they did not let him go, he’ll cough at them and “spread corona”, after which he sat at the gate and didn’t move. Further, when the staff tried to remove him, he misbehaved with them and also manhandled them. He further called a couple of other students who reached the gate and violated the rules.
The student added that in a complaint to the Delhi police against the FIR, he has asked for the CCTV footage on the main gate to be secured so the authorities can investigate the manner in which entry and exit through the gate was being sanctioned.
“I was not a threat to any student during this time of lockdown and did not violate any protocol from March 18 to April 1 when I was residing in JNU. I was merely asking to be let out as per the procedure prescribed,” Mr. Menon said.
He added that the JNU security confined him to the guard room and assaulted him. “Such actions were a grave threat to my life, merely because I chose to call out this blatant bias exercised by the agency by denying me exit from campus despite the appropriate procedure followed by me,” he said.
Based on the complaint submitted by the Chief Security Officer, an FIR under Sections 188, 269, 270, 323, 341 has been registered at the Vasant Kunj Police Station and further probe is underway.
