JNU’S PHD student warned for protesting, he says he wasn’t in town
NEW DELHI : A final-year PHD student, Om Prasad, has alleged that he has received a warning from the Jawaharlal Nehru University for protesting outside the administration block, on a day when he was not even in town.
A letter issued by the chief proctor’s office to Prasad said that he had been involved in a protest in front of the administration building on March 16.
“The said protest is in violation of the hon’ble court order dated 9th March 2017 (which had restricted protests in the area),” reads the letter dated November 15, which adds that a “lenient view” has been taken in the matter, and Prasad should consider himself “warned and advised to be careful in the future”.
Prasad has, however, questioned the “hollowness of the investigation procedure”, as he was allegedly not in town on the said date.
“I had flown to Hyderabad on an early morning flight on March 16, and then to Bangalore from there, before returning to Delhi on 28 or 29th March,” said Prasad.
Prasad said that the protest on March 16, was in connection with the suicide of a Dalit research scholar, Muthu Krishnan, at JNU, which was organised primarily by the members of the Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students Association. “I had been summoned earlier, in April/may, to the chief proctor’s office in this regard. They said that they had CCTV footage and the testimony of guards to establish that I was there. I was not shown the footage, and I could not find a copy of my ticket to show them at the time. I have now received the letter (on Wednesday),” he said.
Prasad, a member of the left wing All India Students’ Association, said that this was a “witch hunt” against the Left wing students. “It is definitely a witch hunt, as my political affiliation is the only reason I can think of why I got the warning letter,” he said.
Refusing to comment, the chief proctor asked that all questions be directed to their spokesperson.
However, the JNU spokesperson did not reply to queries.