The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers’ Association on Wednesday said that the Vice-Chancellor’s “command to students and faculty to forget and to accept administrative terror as normal is an insult to injury”. The association said that the initial silence and later comments by the V-C reinforced its view that the mob violence of January 5 could not have been possible without the active connivance of the JNU administration.
‘Eliminate evidence’
“No impartial inquiry is possible if it is conducted by the JNU administration or Delhi Police, as their roles have to be under scrutiny. No fair enquiry is possible as long as Mr. Kumar is the V-C... he must be dismissed,” the JNUTA said.
The teachers said there is a “distinct possibility” that an administration interested in shielding the culprits would eliminate important evidence like CCTV footage and other records of entry and exit into the campus.
“The JNU V-C has not a single syllable to waste for the faculty who were seriously injured by the masked assailants nor did he seem perturbed by the fact that the assailants chased families of residents and forcibly entered their homes, and criminally intimidated and terrorised their families,” the association said, adding that no medical, psychiatric, legal or academic assistance has been offered to students.
Meanwhile, a splinter group of the association, the JNU Teachers’ Federation (JNUTF), alleged that a few students had been “radicalised” following instigation from the JNUTA. “It is very unfortunate that a movement against hostel charges has now become fully violent with the active support and instigation by JNUTA members,” the JNUTF said.
The JNUTA has given a call for a citizens’ march against mob violence and in defence of public education on Thursday.
