The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) said that the JNU administration is filing FIRs against it's own students when it should be trying to open operations and keeping services like the online library portals active. The Jawaharlal Nehru University administration on Thursday alleged that a group of students broke into the central library and clashed with the staff there following which an FIR has been registered with the police. The varsity alleged that the students have been occupying the library for the last two days. The police said based on the complaint by the varsity, a case has been registered. The Union's Vice-President, Saket Moon, said that the students who went to the library had no political affiliation whatsoever.
Why would someone break into a library? Saket said that the library was open as the staff had started coming back to office but the reading rooms were closed. "There are no locks to break into the library. One can simply walk in. There was a pane that was found broken and the admin had alleged that the students broke it. These students are not affiliated to any organisation," said Saket. "We had a meeting with the librarian and we were told that the library will open shortly. But no one said anything about an FIR being filed," added Saket.
According to the police, the incident took place on June 8 and based on a complaint from the varsity's chief security officer, a case was registered on Wednesday. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southwest) Ingit Pratap Singh said "Based on the complaint, a case was registered under section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code, Delhi Disaster Management Act and prevention of damage to public property."
No arrests have been made in the case so far, police said. In a statement, the varsity said, "This (incident) has caused health risk for the library staff and even other students residing in the hostels, since these unruly students return to hostel for lunch/dinner or other purposes."
