JNU teachers criticise 25-point summary in missing student case
Jawaharlal Nehru University issued a 25-point ‘summary’ in connection with the missing student,Najeeb Ahmed, on Wednesday.
Jawaharlal Nehru University issued a 25-point ‘summary’ in connection with the missing student,Najeeb Ahmed, on Wednesday.
This prompted teachers to criticise the administration for “omitting” any mention of the student being attacked by others, before he went missing.
The administration circulated a 25-point ’summary & update of the events at Mahi-Mandovi Hostel’.
The summary mentioned that as per the warden’s report, Ahmad slapped another student, who came to his room for campaigning.
It also mentioned that Ahmed did so “without any provocation” and also “admitted his mistake”.
Ahmed, a student of JNU’s School of Biotechnology, went missing on October 15.
JNU students’ union (JNUSU) and other students alleged that students belonging to the RSS-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad beat him up, while other students alleged that Ahmed slapped a student.
There is, prima facie, no evidence to back any of these allegations.
Read: JNU issues bulletin over missing student, has no mention of his brawl with ABVP
Teachers said the summary does not mention the beating up of Ahmed by a group of students. Instead, the summary mentioned that a wardens meeting on October 16 discussed the “scuffle among students.”
JNU teachers association (JNUTA) took “strong exception” to the statement and said “such omission appears to be deliberate and could put serious questions on the objectivity of the inquiry process”.
“It does not even mention the beating up of Ahmed by a group of students, a fact which has not only been in the public domain but is also categorically mentioned in the statement by the warden who was an eye witness,” said JNUTA president Ajay Patnaik.
JNUTA said it is deeply worried about whether there is an attempt to give a clean chit in advance to those who intend to bring mob-violence into JNU.
It added that the university could not in any manner ignore, let alone protect, perpetrators of mob violence in the campus.
“Acts of intended commission and omission will not bring any good to the university and slowly every section of the university will lose all faith in this administration,” JNUTA said, in a statement.
However, officials said that Ahmed admitted his guilt in the slapping incident, while in the other case, investigations were still on.
“The allegation of violence on Ahmed is still under investigation and unless the findings are out, we cannot make an official statement on it,” an official said.
That is why we have called it a scuffle among students,” the official added.
Meanwhile, around a hundred students tried to block the Nelson Mandela Marg in Vasant Kunj, to protest against what they alleged was the Delhi police’s lax attitude and indifference in finding the missing Ahmed.