"Student politics must be encouraged but for healthy democracy": JNU students

After the death of a Manipuri PhD scholar under mysterious circumstances in his hostel room in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus, the students today alleged that such unfortunate incidents are bringing a bad name to the varsity, adding student politics must be encouraged but for a healthy democracy.

"The Jawaharlal Nehru University is the root of academic excellence... It is among the top three universities in the country. Student politics must be encouraged but it must be for a healthy democracy. But politicizing each and every issue and then doing strikes is not right," Jhanvi, a student, told ANI.

"If the students want to attend the classes then too they can't because the teachers are on a strike. This is something, which is damaging the academics of this university... The students, who come from poor background here, are not able to concentrate on their studies and this is something very unfortunate," she added.

Another student Alok Singh was critical of the media for portraying the varsity in negative light.

"We are politicizing the issue for mere vote bank politics. The students are disturbed because of this unfortunate incident and are not able to concentrate on their studies," he added.

"We must take effective steps to maintain the reputation of this university," he added.

The youth J R Philemon Raja, who was pursuing PhD in West Asia studies from JNU, was found dead under mysterious circumstances in his hostel room last night. The youth had locked himself up inside room number 171 at Brahmaputra hostel for the past three days.

Initial probe points towards suicide as no injury marks have been found on the body.

Raja had joined the university a year ago. His body has been sent for autopsy to AIIMS.

The body of a Manipuri PhD scholar who was found dead yesterday night under mysterious circumstances in his hostel room in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus, has been sent for post-mortem.

Jawaharlal Nehru University has been witnessing huge protests since October 15 when another student, Najeeb Ahmed, had gone missing following a brawl in his hostel.