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Dismiss JNU V-C: Congress fact-finding committee on Jan 5 campus violence
The panel also recommended that an independent inquiry should be set up to look at all appointments made from January 27, 2016, when Jagadesh Kumar was appointed.
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) vice-chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar should be dismissed and investigated for his role in January 5 violence in the campus, the fact finding-committee of the Congress has recommended.
The five-member panel has also called for an independent judicial enquiry into the events of January 5.
The panel also recommended that an independent inquiry should be set up to look at all appointments made from January 27, 2016, when Jagadesh Kumar was appointed.
It also said that all other financial and administrative decisions which were taken during his tenure should also be probed.
It has said a criminal investigation must also be initiated against the company that provides security on campus and faculty member, who conspired with the attackers to unleash the violence at Sabarmati and Periyar hostels and other places.
The security company’s contract must be immediately terminated, it said.
“Fix accountability of the Commissioner of Delhi Police and other police officials because of police failure to act on the emergency calls by the students and faculty members on 05/01/2020 and in light of the overwhelming prima facie evidence that they facilitated the criminal elements on campus,” its report says.
Another key recommendation is an immediate rollback of the fee hike as implemented by the university authorities and recognition of JNUSU as an elected body so that proper consultation can take place between the administration and the students on the fee and other issues.
The committee, comprising Mahila Congress chief Sushmita Dev, Congress MP Hibi Eden, former JNUSU president Syed Answer Hussain and former NSUI and DUSU president Amrita Dhawan, spent time with students, teachers and officials of JNU on January 8.
A mob of masked people armed with rods and sticks had stormed the JNU campus on January 5 and assaulted students and faculty members, and vandalised property, leaving several people injured.
Before that, two students groups allegedly clashed over the semester registration process on January 3. Violence was again reported on January 4.
Left-backed students’ bodies and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) have blamed each other for the violence.
Delhi Police have named nine students it said were responsible for the violence, with several of them belonging to Left-wing groups and including JNU students’ union president Aishe Ghosh, who was attacked and suffered a head injury. She has denied all allegations.
