Agitated over the arrest of JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar in a case of sedition over an Afzal guru event in the varsity, the students and teachers condemned the action against Kumar as "uncalled" for.
Alleging that the students are being "witch-hunted" and police is targeting them mindlessly, the students continued with their protests outside the Vice Chancellor's office demanding the administration's intervention into the manner in which students are being compared to "terrorists" and picked up from campus by policemen in plain clothes.
The students also claimed that their parents are asking them to quit the university in view of the "vitiating atmosphere" at Jawaharlal Nehru University(JNU).
"The police is mindlessly patrolling the campus and the students are being witch-hunted and demonised for doing nothing. What is the proof that Kanhaiya was there among those raising anti-India slogans? Has he been spotted in any picture or video? Why are all JNU students being given 'anti-national' certificates. We condemn the arrest," said JNUSU vice president Shehla Rashid Shora.
A member of the All India Students Association (AISA) said, "Why is the administration not protecting students against this selective targeting by ABVP. Why police have been given such a free hand to rashly pick students from campus? Why were the cops not uniformed? If there has to be an inquiry, why no protocols are being followed?"
Shivani Behl, a student at varsity's School of Social Sciences said, "my parents today asked me to quit the university and go back to my hometown in Bihar as the varsity's atmosphere was very vitiating".
JNU Teacher's Association (JNUTA) issued a statement terming the "excessive police action" as an attack on the varsity which is known for its democratic ethos.
"The JNU teaching community is extremely concerned at threat to democratic ethos, which has played a critical role in assuring that university serves its social function and secure its position as one of the premier institution of higher education," it said.
