“Dancing to the tunes of power and punishing voices of dissent is your privilege. Defending the Right to Education and fighting for justice is our duty.” It was with these words that the Jawaharlal Nehru Students’ Union (JNUSU) called for a protest on Tuesday against the administration of the university that they allege is trying to silence dissent.
Students, who had marched from Ganga Dhaba to the Administration Block late on Monday, held a protest in front of the block on Tuesday.
The university administration, via the Proctor’s Office, has levied fines against 30 students for taking part in protests in the last academic year and has blocked their registration for the coming term till they pay the fine.
Fund collection drive
The administration has imposed a fine of ₹20,000 on all four JNUSU office-bearers and two other student activists, and a fine of ₹10,000 on 24 other students.
The JNUSU has launched a fund collection drive asking all students to contribute in paying the fines so that no student has to pay out of their own pocket.
President of JNUSU Mohit Pandey, however, has decided that he will not be paying the fine.
The JNUSU said that they had decided in a council meeting to take up a principled position of not paying the fine of the head of the council — the union president — but would pay the fines of other students so that they may retain their studentship.
The union stated that they will be writing to the administration to ensure that the amount paid in fines by the JNU community be used strictly for students’ welfare, library and other facilities.
“Right now, 30 student activists are running from pillar to post to ensure their registration since the administration has imposed massive fines of them for raising their voices against the seat-cut in research seats and demanding justice for Najeeb. However, the assaulter of Najeeb are roaming free on campus without any punishment,” said Mr. Pandey.
In a statement, the Bhagat Singh Ambedkar Students’ Association (BASO) stated: “A student, Najeeb, is beaten up in full public view and is subjected to enforced disappearance, and those who seek justice for him are fined exorbitant amounts”. It added that since M. Jagadesh Kumar took over as JNU Vice-Chancellor in January 2016, fines over ₹4 lakh have been imposed on university students.