New Delhi: The protests in JNU over a missing student turned volatile on Wednesday with the agitating students locking down the Vice Chancellor and other senior officials in the administrative building.
“We have been locked inside the building since 2.30 PM. There is a female colleague with us who is unwell as she is diabetic,” JNU Vice Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar said tonight. The VC and other senior officials are locked for more than eight hours as the students are lying down outside the administration block saying the officials were free to walk over them.
The JNU students union defended its stand claiming there has been no “illegal detention”. “We have not illegally confined anybody in JNU administrative building. Electricity and all kind of supplies are here. We have also sent food for people inside,” Mohit Pandey, President, JNUSU said.
Police officials were seen outside the campus awaiting a nod from the administration to enter the premises. A large number of students had gathered at the administrative block in the afternoon to protest. After sloganeering and demonstration the students blocked the gates of the building.
After intervention from the security the locks were opened, but in the evening as most of the staff left, the students again continued with the blockade.
“The blockade is due to the insensitive way of handling the matter of Najeeb Ahmed — the violence against him by ABVP which led to him missing from the campus for over five days now and the JNU administration trying to shield the culprits while refusing to lodge an FIR,” the JNUSU President said. The situation remained tense with the left-backed JNUSU and ABVP levelling allegations and counter-allegations.
ABVP alleged that there is inconsistency in the statements of the JNUSU president Mohit Pandey and the roommate of Ahmad. Meanwhile, at least 12 students were summoned earlier in the day by JNU administration to appear before the proctorial committee in connection with a case involving a missing student amid protests by students who claimed Vice Chancellor acted in an “insensitive” manner on the issue.
A student of School of Biotechnology, Najeeb Ahmed, allegedly went missing on Saturday following a brawl on the campus the night before. An FIR for kidnapping and wrongfully confining a person was lodged at Vasant Kunj North police station yesterday after the police received a complaint from the student’s guardians.
PTI