JNU admin hijacked EC members for off-campus meeting: Students trapped inside varsity allege, JNUTA confirms

As protests intensified on campus, the JNU admin reportedly tried to take some EC members away in a car without informing them about the location
Security locking gates at the varsity campus| Pic: JNUSU
Security locking gates at the varsity campus| Pic: JNUSU

As protests intensify at the JNU campus on Wednesday against the draft hostel manual, students at the varsity have alleged that the administration has been attempting to conduct the Executive Council meeting somewhere outside the campus, that they are not aware of. At first, the meeting was supposed to held at the Convention Centre, which was later moved to the Administration Block. Protesting students were present there at the ad block, while all the gates of the varsity were shut down, they said.

An email, reportedly sent from the Section Office of the university to the Registrar, confirmed that the location has been changed to AIU House on Comrade Indrajit Gupta Marg, 16 kilometres away from the varsity.

The email sent to the Registrar

Bhagat Singh Ambedkar Students Organisation (BASO) member and an elected student representative, Apeksha Priyadarshini said "They're conducting the meeting like cowards outside campus. They even tried to take some EC members away in the car without informing them the location. But the EC members from JNUTA have refused. They have shut down all the gates and trapped students inside. They aren't allowing even ambulance and ration to move. What kind of administration tries to abduct its own EC members for a meeting?"

Confirming the fact that some of the elected EC members from the Jawaharlal Nehru Teachers' Association (JNUTA) were asked to leave the campus, current JNUTA President Dr D K Lobiyal of the School of Computer and System Sciences said, "We were asked by the security to get inside cars but we were not informed about the location we were heading to. This kind of an act by the administration is nothing but inappropriate." 

Earlier, the students alleged that the Delhi Police had deployed personnel in 'civil dress' on campus. But now they said that police in uniform were also spotted on campus and barricades been put up outside the gates to keep them locked. N Sai Balaji, the AISA National President added that the JNU administration is turning the varsity into a jail by locking the gates.

Later, the JNUTA members — Sachidanand Sinha, Moushumi Basu and Baviskar Sharad Pralhad, who are a part of the EC released a statement saying that they did not receive any communication till 12.30 pm about the change in venue. "The three elected members along with five other Deans reached the Convention Centre at 10.00 am to find a no-show by the Vice Chancellor and his team of Rectors and Registrar.  Nor were the External members present. We tried to call the registrar and the VC’s office but we did not get any communication. We waited till 10.40 am without any news from the administration confirming the holding of the meeting. It was clear from the lack of preparedness in terms of the usual arrangements that an Executive Council meeting demands, that a decision had probably been taken to not have the meeting at the venue. However, we as members of the Executive Council had not been informed of the change in venue."

"What was more bizarre was the fact that around 11.15, some of the members were approached by a security official who told them to accompany him to an undisclosed location, without any official communication of the same. At around 12:40 we saw a mail from the administration to some of us not all informing about the change in venue. The letter gave the address as Association of Indian Universities, AIU House, 16 Comrade Indrajit Gupta Marg, New Delhi-110002 and the time of the meeting as 12.30. It was obviously not possible for the three of us to make our way to the meeting 18 kms away through the Delhi traffic in 20 minutes. In this way, we the elected members were deprived of their right to participate in the deliberations of the Executive Council on important matters concerning the university," it added.

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