A day after a high-level inquiry committee found students violating the rules of the university, Deans of the Jawaharlal Nehru University have refuted the administration’s version that they were apprised of the recommendations of the committee looking into the February 9 incident. The Deans said they were not provided any details of the charges levelled against the students.
In a letter to Vice-Chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar, the Deans have said he should clarify on the findings and what punishment was recommended in each case.
The letter, which is in possession of The Hindu , said: “This is with regard to the minutes of the Deans Committee meeting held on March 14 and the statement issued to the Press on the committee report. The message being conveyed is that the Deans were apprised of the summary of the report. Unfortunately, that does not make clear that we were not provided any details on what charges were being made against individual students and what the punishments recommended are in each case.”
The panel found Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, now in judicial custody, “guilty” of arousing communal, caste or regional feeling among students.
Deans want JNU to clear confusion on report
Deans of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, in their letter to Vice-Chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar, also pointed out that even students issued show cause had not been given copies of the inquiry panel report.
“We were also told that each student issued a show-cause notice by the Proctor would be given a copy of the report, which we understand has not been done,” the letter said.
Citing the confusion among teachers created by conflicting reports about the inquiry committee, it requested that a clarification be issued “to say that the Deans Committee was not informed of who all are being charged, what the charges are and what the recommended punishment in each case is.”
The JNU had on Monday issued a press statement saying: “The Vice-Chancellor has apprised the Dean’s Committee of the summary of the inquiry committee recommendations. The office of the Chief Proctor would take further action by issuing show cause notices to the concerned students who have been found violating the rules and norms of the University.”
A show cause notice was issued to 21 students including Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya, Kanhaiya Kumar, Rama Naga, Ashutosh Kumar, Anant Prakash, ABVP’s Saurabh Sharma and other students. The students have been asked to report to the Chief Proctor’s office by 5 p.m. on Wednesday.
However, the students have refused to reply to the show cause notice saying that it did not clarify the basis on which it was issued. “When we don’t even know what wrong we have done, how will we reply to the notice,” asked one of the students.
