Eight JNU students suspended for disrupting Academic Council Meet

At least eight students were suspended by the JNU administration and their hostel facility withdrawn on Tuesday for disrupting the Academic Council (AC) Meeting on December 26, said a university professor.

"I know that a few students have been suspended but nothing official has been heard from the administration's side," JNU professor and council member Nivedita Menon told IANS.

A group of students was alleged to have disrupted the 142nd AC Meeting on Monday by barging inside the convention centre where it was being convened.

The students belonged mainly to Birsa-Ambedkar-Phule Students Association (BAPSA), Democratic Students' Union (DSU), and Students' Front for Swaraj (SFS), Rama Naga, former General Secretary of JNU Students Union (JNUSU), told IANS.

It was alleged by the university administration that the meeting was disrupted when a number of faculty members, part of the Academic Council, objecting to a part of the agenda, called the students inside who had been protesting outside.

"Towards the end of the AC meeting, someone from this group of members, disrupting the meeting, called in the students who were protesting outside the venue. A group of unruly students broke open the latch of the meeting room after thumping the door, came inside and began to shout slogans at the Chairperson and the Academic Council members," said a statement issued by the JNU administration on Monday.

However, Menon, who was present at the meeting, said that none of the faculty member called the students inside, who, far from barging in, had come through an open door.

The JNUSU objected to the suspension of the students saying that according the very statement issued by the administration, all the important decision had already been taken before the students barged in.

"The JNU administration itself contradicts its yesterday's statement, where it itself said that the VC (Vice Chancellor) already declared all the agenda passed when a group of Students entered inside the convention centre... then how can it allege the students of disruption?" it said in a statement.

During the AC meeting on Monday, 21 out of 40 faculty members had objected to the act of tampering with the minutes of the previous meeting, which was held last year. The protesting members decried the minutes added to the previous meeting which, they alleged, were never discussed during it.

"While more than half of the council members stood and objected to the act, the Registrar read the agenda and concluded the meeting, without any discussion or clarification for the fraudulent practice," Menon said, terming it "blatant abuse of power and completely illegal".

The controversial minutes were objected to by the faculty members for granting dominant powers to the VC in selecting the members of Selection Committee.

--IANS

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