JNU Suspends Marginalised Students For “Disruption”

There’s trouble in Jawaharlal Nehru University. Again.  

On December 26, 12 MPhil and PhD students were suspended by Jawaharlal Nehru University’s Administration after an Academic Council meeting on December 26. According to the university press release from the same day, “…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.” Following this, the suspensions were ordered.  

Professor Pradeep Shinde from the School of Social Sciences, who was at the AC meeting, has a different version of events. “The protesting students were exercising their democratic rights,” said Shinde. “Punishing them only pointed out that the Abdul Nafey committee, which was established a year ago, had rightly pointed out that discrimination exists for MPhil and PhD admissions in JNU, based on their socio-economic backgrounds. We had recommended that the meeting shouldn’t take place in the period of holidays as all the AC members weren’t around, but it happened anyway.” Prashanth Kumar, a PhD student from School of Life sciences, who has been suspended, countered that “security personnel started to manhandle us, they were pushing and shoving us, and they themselves broke the latch of the gate.”

The situation in JNU has been tense since January this year, when three students were charged with sedition. Over the course of the year, there have been repeated encounters between the university authorities and students. Protests have erupted on a regular basis. Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union President Mohit K Pandey said, “Restrictions have been put up on dissent, especially as they recently put up grills around the place on campus where hunger-strikes and other protests were hugely carried out and the stairs next to the Administration Block, where the lectures on nationalism were held earlier this year, have been decorated with pots of plants.”

The university’s most recent disciplinary measure has met with sharp criticism from a section of students and faculty because it seems certain students were cherry-picked for suspension. The 12 belong to various marginalised sections of the society. Some of them belong to student bodies like Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association, United OBC Forum, Student’s Front for Swaraj and Democratic Students’ Union.

At the root of the protests that broke out on December 26 are allegations of discrimination in the academic process of judging students. Those who have been suspended allege that they have been cherry-picked for suspension because they belong to marginalised communities. There are also charges that JNU authorities are fostering discrimination. “They believe admissions should be granted to students fluent in English and do not come from poor backgrounds,” said Dileep, a PhD students.

It was ostensibly to address these concerns that the first part of the AC meeting was called on December 23. It was attended by the VC, Registrar, committee members and student representatives. Thallapelli Praveen, a Phd student who was suspended on December 26, said, “No discussion happened on any of the issues which were meant to be discussed and the registrar merely read out the agenda, and the VC declared it ‘already passed’.” When the AC met again on December 26, there were protests from the students, who demanded that Mrityunjay Singh, a JNUSU representative, be allowed to present a memorandum that articulated the concerns of students. Singh pointed out that their protest did not flout any rules. “JNUSU constitution has written that a convenor can call a protest, and yet they deemed our protest as a violation,” he said. Dileep said, “We weren’t even violent and we were still suspended. It’s still a casteist, patriarchal society.”

Dissenting students and faculty members allege that there are double standards at play. Dawa Sherpa, a student at the Centre of Economic Studies and Planning, pointed out that earlier in the year, a document that stated students from the North East are “terrorists” and female students from the area “indulge in sex rackets” had been distributed in JNU. No action has been taken against those responsible, he said. Professor Nivedita Menon, who is one of the members of the AC, said, “In Najeeb’s case, a committee wasn’t set up for days and when it was established the VC took 60 days to punish the ABVP cadres who had beaten up Najeeb in his hostel the night before he went missing but the ‘peaceful, democratic’ protestors who supposedly started protesting at the end of the AC meeting on December 26 were served with a suspension letter within hours.”

The suspended students have been on a “civil disobedience movement” since December 26 because their suspension doesn’t allow them from accessing the campus, hostels or any of the facilities available to students. If anyone is suspected of housing them, they could potentially be part of an enquiry. The enquiry against the suspended students will take place after January 2, and would take at least 15 days. The students argue that they are already being treated as though they’ve been found guilty. Bhupani, a PhD student and President of BAPSA, said, “Out of about 60 protestors, they maintained a targeted approach. … If they feel that this discourse would affect the organizations and their convenors that JNU has been targeting and that they’ll stop protesting on these issues, it’s their misconception.”