Protesting JNU students confine V-C, senior officials

Demanding a conclusive response on the whereabouts of a missing student Najeeb Ahmed, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students on Wednesday staged protests outside the Administrative Block forcing the top brass of the university to stay put in their offices.

Apart from Vice-Chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar, Rectors one and two and Registrar of the university were said to be confined inside the building. All student political parties, except Akhil Bhartiya Vidya Parishad (ABVP), took part in the blockade and vented out their anger at the university officials.

The protests started outside the Administrative block at 2 p.m. and grew more intense as the day wore off.

"By 3:30 p.m. employees started coming out of the building on some pretext or the other even when we had no such intention to lay a siege there. We are only demanding a proper response from the V-C about what action the university is taking in finding Najeeb," Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students' Association (BAPSA) President Bhupali Magare told IANS.

She said students from all political parties, including NSUI, AISA, SFI, DSU protested outside the building and there is no hostage situation.

However, an ABVP leader said that the officials were confined inside the building and the protesting students were on the verge of getting violent.

"They (protesters) have stooped very low that they are indulging in such cheap politics. They have kept all the entry points blocked of the building since 7 p.m. When the Proctor came to assuage them they got violent and made him run away," Saurabh Sharma of ABVP told IANS.

But the JNU Students' Union President Mohit Pandey denounced all claims of keeping officials as hostages and said, "We are only lying outside the building, if anyone wants he can go out over our bodies."

A student named Najeeb Ahmed had gone missing on the night of October 14 from the university hostel Mahi-Mandvi after a brawl with a few ABVP students. Since then a police complaint has been filed under IPC Section 365 and a Proctorial inquiry has been initiated by the University.

"This is not a small issue, but a part of a bigger conspiracy. No-one would go missing like this leaving even his phone behind. It's been five days now but there's no news of him," Rahul Sonpimple of BAPSA told IANS.

On October 18, V-C had also met the parents of Ahmed and had apprised them of all that they were doing to find him.

--IANS

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