Fund collection drive to help JNU students pay fines

Re-registration of 14 ‘guilty’ students blocked over non-payment of penalty

New Delhi : Delhi Police and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students scuffle during a protest outside the UGC building over the students’ demand to meet the UGC Chairperson, in New Delhi on Friday. PTI Photo by Subhav Shukla (PTI3_24_2017_000199A)

At an emergency union council meeting on Friday, the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) decided to organise a mass fund collection drive to help students pay fines imposed on them by the administration.

Student activists

The meeting was called to discuss the administration’s imposition of fines on student activists involved in several protests over the previous year. The administration has blocked re-registration of 14 students over their failure to pay the fines, effectively putting their academic career on hold.

The administration’s decision to levy fines of up to ₹20,000 on the students is being seen by the student community as an attempt to silence dissenting voices and activism on campus.

A notice from the Proctor’s Office has named 14 students as “guilty” of various offences. These include “confinement” of the Vice-Chancellor and other administrative staff overnight in the Admin Block over alleged inaction in the disappearance of student Najeeb Ahmed and a protest at the Academic Council meeting over implementation of the UGC gazette notification, that lead to a reduction in the number of seats in research programmes, and a deadlock between JNU, students and the teachers’ association.

JNUSU president Mohit Pandey said several students have been running from pillar to post but have not been able to register themselves as they are being punished for raising voices of dissent.

Umar Khalid, who found that his registration was blocked despite paying the fine of ₹20,000, said, “The JNU administration has now blocked my registration citing pending proctorial enquiry regarding the screening of Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai , organised by the Democratic Students’ Federation, two years back. I didn’t hear anything from the administration regarding this for over a year. Now all of a sudden, just before the new semester, the JNU administration is digging up old inquiries to intimidate and harass students.”

Deadline issue

Another student took to social media to say all her inquiries by the Proctor’s Office will take place from 3.30 p.m. onwards on July 26, the time and date when registration closes for old students.

“How am I supposed to register myself after that even if my inquiry gets done and my registration gets unblocked?” she said.