In pics | Student protests: JNU turns into melting pot of controversy

Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University was embroiled in controversy yet again after the students’ union leader was arrested on charges of sedition for organising a protest against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University was embroiled in controversy yet again after the students’ union leader was arrested on charges of sedition for shouting allegedly ‘anti-national’ slogans and organising a protest on the death anniversary of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

JNU students look on as INLD student wing protests in front of the university (JNU) against the role of JNUSU in alleged sedition charges in New Delhi. (Vipin Kumar/HT Photo)

Home minister and BJP leader Rajnath Singh had on Saturday promised strict action against those responsible for organising the demonstration while HRD minister Smriti Irani said India couldn’t tolerate “any insult to Mother India”.

The students, however, continued protests against the court allowing JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar’s custodial interrogation.

Opposition parties too joined in, with Left parties condemning the arrest while Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said: “The most anti-national people are the ones who are suppressing the voice of this institution,” he said, addressing a gathering of around 2,000 students at the university campus on Saturday.

Here’s how the controversy unfolded:

JNU teachers and non teaching staff gather outside the vice-chancellor’s office at the university campus.

The Indian National Lok Dal student wing protests in front of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) against the role of JNUSU in alleged sedition charges, in New Delhi.

Amid the controversy, several faculty members supported the students and called for a solidarity march on Sunday demanding Kanhaiya Kumar’s release and removal of police patrol on the campus.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi joins the ongoing protest of students against the arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar, the student union president, at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.

General-secretary of CPI(M) Sitaram Yechury addresses students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) as Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi (L) looks on, in New Delhi. Yechury and Gandhi went to the campus to meet the students protesting for the release of student union president Kanhaiya Kumar.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, on Sunday, ordered a magisterial probe into the alleged ‘anti-India’ protest which led to the arrest of students union leader Kanhaiya Kumar.

ABVP activists protest against the JNU demonstration supporting Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru in New Delhi.

Activists protest against ‘anti-India’ slogans shouted during a demonstration at the Jawaharlal Nehru University where students allegedly called the Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru a martyr.

A sculpture of former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru at the JNU campus, in New Delhi. The university’s teachers have have asked the public not to “brand” JNU as “anti-national” due to the raging controversy.