DU: PhD student ‘brain’ behind BBC protest

THE STUDENT HAD MOVED THE HIGH COURT AGAINST HIS DEBARMENT BY THE VARSITY FOR A YEAR

NEW DELHI: The Delhi University on Monday told the Delhi high court that it debarred PhD student Lokesh Chugh for a year for being the “mastermind” behind the protests on the varsity campus over screening of the BBC documentary on Gujrarat riots.

In an affidavit before the court, the varsity defended its action against Chugh and said that students who screened the documentary without permission and organised protests despite prohibitory orders indulged in “gross indiscipline”. Chugh, a PhD research scholar at the Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Science, had moved the high court against his debarment, and last week the court had observed that there was no “application of mind” by DU while taking action against him.

Chugh had contended in his plea that he was not present at the protest site and did not facilitate or participate in the screening in any way.

In an affidavit filed before justice Purushaindra Kaurav, the university said, “The petitioner was actively involved in the attempt to screen the BBC documentary on the university campus to disrupt the academic functioning of the university system. Even otherwise, such an act on his part amounts to gross indiscipline in general, without the permission of university authority,”

“The petitioner has himself admitted that there was a student protest and that the BBC documentary was screened within the University’s campus, which amounts to gross acts of indiscipline...,” the university said in the affidavit. Twenty four people were detained when protests erupted at DU’s Arts Faculty on January 27 while students tried to screen the controversial BBC documentary ‘India: The Modi Question’. The central government had declared the documentary “propaganda” and reflection of a “colonial mindset”.

While Chugh has claimed that he was participating in a media interaction outside the Faculty of Arts (main campus) at the time of the protest, the university said the petitioner did not come to the court with clean hands. DU added that Chugh has not provided any documentary proof that he was participating in a live TV debate at the time of the incident.

“The video footage available with DU would show the petitioner’s (Chugh’s) complicity and support for such a protest. Merely because the petitioner escaped from police detention on the date of the incident does not absolve the petitioner from acts of indiscipline and disrupting the academic functioning of the university system,” the university said. The university said that instead of focusing on his research, Chugh was involved in campus politics and was instrumental in inciting other students and engaging in petty politics that were detrimental to the university’s discipline. DU also said that the disciplinary committee recommended that Chugh be expelled, but the vice-chancellor, the competent authority, took a sympathetic approach and only punished the petitioner by barring him from taking any university, college, or departmental examination for one year.

Justice Kaurav scheduled the case for hearing on Wednesday.