JNU protest: Students accuse police of groping women, manhandling differently-abled protesters
The issue of the ongoing protests at JNU also resonated in the Lok Sabha with Opposition members describing the alleged police action on the students as "suppression of voice" and demanding total rollback of hostel fee hike.
Students at the Jawaharlal Nehru University have accused the police of groping women and manhandling physically challenged protesters. Earlier the students had accused the police of baton-charging them for protesting on the streets of Delhi against hostel fee hike. The police, however, have denied lathicharging, using tear gas or any form of violence against students.
Shashibhushan Pandey, a visually challenged student, claimed that police beat him up even when he told them he is "differently-abled", while JNU Students' Union president Aishe Ghosh alleged that women students were "manhandled and groped" by male policemen.
Addressing a press conference at the university campus, Pandey said, "I removed my spectacles to show them that I can't see. Still they beat me up. A student who intervened was also beaten up."
"My friends told me street lights had been switched off and police were beating students. They made me stand on the side of a road, but policemen started nudging me with lathis from behind," Pandey said.
He alleged that he was thrown on the road and when he told the police that he is "visually challenged", he reportedly got to hear, "If you are blind, why have you come here to protest".
Other students also narrated their ordeal at the press conference.
"When I was detained, my kurta was pulled and I was picked up by four male policemen. Women students were literally groped and manhandled," Ghosh said.
Another student, Sucheta Talukdar, who was also injured during the protest, levelled similar allegations. Former students' union president N Sai Balaji claimed that a woman student's foot got fractured during the protest as policemen stomped on her foot.
FIR against JNU students
Amid the ongoing protests by JNU students over hostel fee hike, the Delhi Police lodged two FIRs on Tuesday, even as the students' union demanded that no administrative or legal action be taken against the protesters. The issue also resonated in the Lok Sabha with Opposition members describing the alleged police action on the students "suppression of voice" and demanding total rollback of hostel fee hike.
Jawaharlal Nehru Students' Union (JNUSU) president Aishe Ghosh said they had a meeting with Joint Secretary of the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry G C Hosur on Monday and requested him to ensure that no administrative action is initiated against the students.
"Students have been getting notices through e-mail for these protests. But these protests are for a just cause and no student will pay even a single-rupee fine," she told reporters here. She claimed that even though the university administration was "not working", every student has got 10 to 11 notices stating that they will be fined.
"We will put forth the demand before the high-power committee constituted by the HRD ministry that no police or administrative action be taken against students," the JNUSU president said.
Meanwhile, a meeting of the members of the JNU students' union with the HRD ministry is slated to be held today at 10:30 am, with the high-power committee constituted by the ministry to look into the issues concerning the university. Also, another meeting of the hostel presidents with the panel has been scheduled in the later half of the Wednesday.
On the other hand, the university approached the Delhi High Court seeking contempt action against its students and the Delhi Police for allegedly violating a court order against holding a protest within 100 meters of the varsity's administrative block.
The JNU claimed that the students had grossly violated the August 9, 2017, high court order by holding a protest within 100 meters of the administrative block and affecting its day-to-day working. It said the police also violated the court order by refusing and failing to take action to maintain law and order in the university.
The JNU students' union also alleged that the registrar of the university refused to meet the members of the HRD Ministry-appointed panel for mediating between the agitating students and the administration and recommending ways to restore the normal functioning of the university.
The JNUSU, which has been leading the agitation against a hostel fee hike for three weeks, said the strike would not be called off until their demands are met.
Alleging that police did everything to ensure that they were not able to meet ministry officials, the JNUSU president claimed even after their delegation was formed, police separated them.
Meanwhile, the JNU Teachers' Association took out a march against "police brutality" in the JNU campus while the RSS-affiliated ABVP withdrew its support to the students' union protest over fee hike.
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