JNU students claim access to internet restricted

JNU Rector III said there is no change in the URL filtering policy

The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union and several students on Saturday claimed that the university administration had blocked access to various websites and YouTube channels, including some news websites. However, they said access was restored on Sunday. “We condemn this latest scheme of the JNU V-C who is tampering with free academic thought and environment of JNU by placing curbs on internet access of JNU students through JNU WiFi.

“Students have been facing problems in accessing webpages and YouTube channels which have been critical of the Modi government — like NDTV, The Wire , Jan Ki Baat and others. JNU presidential debates, speeches of student leaders have also been restricted,” the JNUSU said in a statement.

Several students, too, tweeted and posted on their Facebook timelines about the problem. Some even shared videos of unsuccessful attempts at opening certain websites and YouTube channels. The message read: “Some results have been removed because Restricted Mode is enabled by your network administrator”. However, JNU Rector III said, “There is no change in the URL filtering policy of JNU.”