Cops did not approach me for arresting the accused: JNU V-C

As all the students accused of holding an event and shouting anti-national slogans came back to the university, the Delhi Police have camped outside the JNU gate. Police have alleged less cooperation from the university and the accused.

Earlier, the Jawaharlal Nehru University had granted a 10-day extension to the high-level committee set up by it to inquire into an event held in the varsity campus against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised.

The panel comprising three professors was supposed to submit its report by February 22 and the deadline has now been deferred to March 3. JNU Teachers Association (JNUTA) on Monday reiterated the demands of the teachers and students seeking “expansion” of the probe committee by inclusion of more members, which was rejected by the university.

“We have full faith in the committee constituted by us as it includes senior professors who will come up with a detailed and fair report. There is no question of adding more members or changing its composition,” said JNU V-C M Jagadesh Kumar.

The students who were asked to appear before the panel had last week refused to participate in the inquiry citing “unjust” suspension of eight students. The varsity authorities, however, maintained that the students will be given three chances to appear before the disciplinary committee and if they fail to do so the committee will finalise its recommendations on the basis of the evidence, eyewitness accounts and students’ deposition available in hand.

The JNU administration had instituted the “disciplinary” committee to inquire as to how the event on February 9 against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru took place despite the withdrawal of permission for the same.