JNUTA slams JNU for police complaint over sloganeering
NEW DELHI: The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) on Wednesday strongly criticised the JNU administration for seeking police action over slogans raised at a students’ event, calling it an attempt to “criminalise protest” and undermine the democratic ethos of the university.
In a statement issued on January 7, the JNUTA said the administration, through the Chief Security Officer, had asked the Delhi Police to register an FIR over sloganeering at a JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU)-organised programme marking six years of the January 5, 2020 campus violence. The teachers’ body termed the move “ridiculous”, pointing out that both the university administration and the police had failed to prevent the violence in 2020 and later claimed inability to identify those responsible.
Drawing parallels with developments since 2016, the JNUTA alleged that the latest action was part of a larger pattern aimed at maligning the university and suppressing dissent.
It accused sections of the media of aiding a campaign to vilify JNU, while the real objective, it said, was to legitimise restrictions on protests and erode the institution’s democratic character.
The association argued that successive administrations had systematically weakened faculty participation in decision-making, admissions and recruitment. It cited the transfer of entrance examinations to the National Testing Agency and the centralisation of recruitment powers in the Vice-Chancellor’s office as examples of this trend.
Despite these changes, the JNUTA said the “spirit of resistance” within the university remained alive, driven by opposition to what it described as authoritarianism, administrative incompetence and attempts to dilute academic standards and social justice commitments.
Expressing confidence that the wider public would see through these efforts, the JNUTA condemned what it called the “media trial” of the university and urged faculty members to remain vigilant against provocations, reaffirming its resolve to continue defending JNU as a public institution.
