New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) on Friday alleged that Dean of School of Social Sciences Prof Pradipta Chowdhary "wrongfully confined" a group of 25 students for boycotting the university's compulsory attendance rule.
Several students took out a protest against rule which makes 75 per cent attendance compulsory for students to appear in the examinations.
"In a highly condemnable incident today, 25 students of Centre for Economic Studies and Planning of School of Social Sciences were wrongfully confined and forced to sign attendance sheets by Prof Chowdhary," JNUSU president Geeta Kumari said in a statement.
Prof Chowdhary, however, did not respond to calls or messages.
The incident took place at 2.30 pm during the 'Monetary and Banking Institutions' lecture, when students refused to sign the attendance sheet, in accordance with JNUSU's call for boycott of compulsory attendance, the Union's statement said.
It further said that Prof Chowdhary refused to allow students to leave class without signing the attendance sheet.
"This is an extremely shocking incident, where a faculty coerced students, both verbally and physically to sign on a sheet of paper, without their consent," Duggirala Srikrishna, general secretary, JNUSU, said on Friday.
In October last year, Prof Chowdhary was appointed Dean by the Vice-Chancellor, by reportedly "superseding five senior professors." The decision by the administration attracted flak from the varsity's teaching community.
In December last year, the JNU administration made minimum attendance of 75 per cent compulsory for all students.
The varsity, in a circular issued on January 10, said a minimum of 75 per cent attendance was compulsory for all students to appear in their examinations.
In protest of the directive, the students have decided not to attend classes on January 15.
The directive came into effective from this winter session only and will apply to all part-time and BA, MA, MSc, MTech, MPH, PG Diploma and MPhil students.
To keep a track of their attendance record, students can check the monthly attendance report that will be put up at the end of every month.
"This is just a way to harass students. I do not understand what kind of attendance they are talking about when we PhD students do not even have classes," a PhD student said.