The Delhi High Court on Thursday called for the final inquiry report pertaining to the incident at JNU in December last year, where some students allegedly “barged” into an Academic Council meeting.
The court called for the Chief Procter’s final report on a plea by four Jawaharlal Nehru University students, who were allegedly part of the group that disrupted the meeting, challenging the punishment and fine of ₹10,000 imposed on each of them.
Pay the fine, says HC
Justice Indermeet Kaur told the students to pay the fine, without prejudice to their rights and contentions, and to proceed with registration for the next semester.
The four students — Mulayam Singh, Shakeel Anjum, Dileep Kumar and Prashant Kumar — by the Chief Procter’s order of July 13 were not allowed to register for the next semester apart from stopping of scholarships and library facilities and transfer of hostels.
‘Unprecedented’
The students, represented by senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, challenged the order on the grounds that they do not have the means to pay the fine as they belong to poor families.
In their plea filed through advocate Gunjan Singh, they also claimed that the order disallowing registration was “unprecedented and contrary to the practice” as students who did not pay the fine have always been allowed to register, subject to payment on leaving the institute.
Forcible entry
All the four students, who are in the third and fourth year of their respective Ph.D programmes, have contended that they were not provided with the documents and material based on which the final report was arrived at on June 19.
The report had charged them with forcible entry into the meeting and raising slogans, thereby disrupting the proceedings, the plea said.
It also said that their appeal against the report was dismissed by the Vice-Chancellor on July 5, subsequent to which the Chief Procter passed the order of July 13.