New Delhi: JNU student Mujeeb Gattoo, whose name figured in the report of a high-level committee formed to look into the February 9 incident, was spotted at the university campus yesterday ahead of the Academic Council meeting.
According to Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), this is not the first time when Gattoo visited the university after February 9 incident that stoked a nationwide debate over free speech.
Saurabh Sharma, ABVP member and JNU student, said that Gattoo has visited the campus several times since February and that the varsity administration is shielding him.
“He was seen here yesterday. This is not his first visit to the university. He regularly visits here… he met Umar Khalid and others. We suspect that the university administration is backing him and we fear few of the professors might be supporting him,” he said.
In the video surfaced from the varsity, Gattoo can be seen talking to Umar Khalid, accused of sedition.
The Jawaharlal Nehru University inquiry panel had named Gattoo of Kaveri hostel and others for anti-India sloganeering on February 9 when an event was organised in the varsity campus to protest execution of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
The high-level inquiry committee report mentioned that Gattoo participated in sloganeering with the a group of outsiders who shouted slogans such as "Kashmir ki Azadi tak, jang rahegi, jang rahegi", "Bharat ko ragda de, zor se ragdo, de ragda", "Ain (constitution) Hindustan ka manzoor nahi", "Go India Go Back", "We want freedom".
"A group of 10-15 masked outsiders also were part of the procession. It has been seen in the video clip that one JNU student Mujeeb Gattoo is seen raising slogans, `hum kya chahate azadi, hum cheen ke lenge azadi`. Another student Mohammed Qadeer of Lohit hostel was seen close to Gattoo," the report accessed by India TV said.
As per reports, Qadeer is a first year PhD student (Economics) and School of Social Sciences councillor. Gattoo is a student of School of Languages in the university. Both of them are from Kashmir.
