JNU orders inquiry over event on Afzal

The Jawaharlal Nehru University administration on Wednesday ordered a disciplinary inquiry into an event held on campus against the hanging of Afzal Guru despite cancellation of the permission for the same by the varsity.

Maintaining that the act by students amounted to “indiscipline” and any talk about disintegration of nation cannot be “national,” the university authorities said that the committee headed by the chief proctor of JNU will investigate the matter. “The permission for the programme was sought by giving incomplete information, so it is an act of indiscipline. A committee headed by the chief proctor will examine the footage of the event and speak to the witnesses. It is on basis of the report, the varsity will take appropriate action,” JNU vice- chancellor Jagdeesh Kumar said.

“There was no mention in the permission request that the event will be on Afzal Guru, they just said that they wanted to organise a cultural event. How can any talk about disintegration of nation be national?” the JNU registrar, Prof. Bupinder Zutshi, said.

The student organisers of the event had pasted posters across the campus inviting students to gather for a protest march against “judicial killing of Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhatt” and in solidarity with “struggle” of Kashmiri migrants, at the varsity’s Sabarmati Dhaba on Tuesday.

The ABVP had objected to the event and wrote to the vice- chancellor that such kind of marches should not be held on campus of an educational institution, prompting the university administration to order cancellation of the march as they “feared” that it might “disrupt” peace on campus.

However, the organisers of the event went ahead with the programme despite the cancellation of the permission and held a cultural programme, art and photo exhibition on the issue rather than a protest.

Agitated over the issue, the ABVP members gathered outside the V- C’s office and shouted slogans demanding expulsion of the students.

JNU Students’ Union joint secretary Saurabh Kumar, the only ABVP member in the union, said, “How can an event on Afzal Guru, who attacked the temple of democracy, be held here? We are demanding expulsion of those who organised it.”