JNU violence: TISS Teachers Association seeks impartial inquiry

The association appealed to the Chief Justice to take sou motto cognisance of the attacks and summon the Delhi Commissioner of Police

Show of solidarity: Several residents of Mumbai gathered at Gateway of India at midnight on Monday to protest violence against staffers and students of JNU on Sunday.

The Tata Institute of Social Sciences Teachers Association (TISSTA) has condemned the attack on students and teachers at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Sunday. In a statement on Monday, it expressed solidarity with the Teachers’ Association and Students Union of the JNU and demanded an impartial inquiry into the attack . The association appealed to the Chief Justice of India to take suo motu cognisance of the attacks and summon the Delhi Commissioner of Police.

“We have issued a solidarity statement. By evening, we are also appealing to the Chief Justice of India and the National Human Rights Commission,” TISSTA president Bal Rakshase told The Hindu .

In the statement, the TISSTA stated that they learnt from media reports that the students at the JNU, who were protesting peacefully against the fee hike, the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register for Citizens within the university premises, were attacked by goons who had entered the campus armed with rods.

The association highlighted the string of “alarming increase in violent incidents in universities” over the past couple of months such as the Aligarh Muslim University, Jamia Millia Islamia University and in Mangaluru. “In all cases we have seen either police brutality or police inaction and in some cases the administration was inactive to take action against these goons. The academic freedom of students and teachers need to be restored so that academic fraternity can carry out their duties without fear,” the statement read.

The association said that it demanded an immediate, impartial and independent inquiry into the attacks, an inquiry into the inaction of the security personnel and administration during the attack. It further demanded that strict action be taken against the wrongdoers and that the university provide safety to its students, teachers and staff within its premises.

“We join all the others in appealing to the Chief Justice of India and the esteemed Supreme Court of India to take sou motto notice and summon the Commissioner of Police and direct the police to protect life and liberty of students, staff and teachers. Action must be taken on the mobs who attacked the students,” the statement read.