A group of students protesting at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) who raised objectionable slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday are expected to be suspended. An FIR was also registered against the students on Tuesday based on a complaint by the university administration.
In a letter to the Delhi Police, the JNU administration claimed that certain students raised "highly objectionable, provocative and inflammatory" slogans on Monday. It added that the slogans were in direct contempt of the Supreme Court and violated the JNU Code of Conduct.
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JNU also ordered an internal inquiry that could result in the suspension, expulsion or debarment of students.
The students were marking the fifth anniversary of the January 5, 2020, violence wherein masked men entered the campus and attacked students and teachers.
A video of the Monday protest showed students allegedly raising slogans against Modi and Shah after the Supreme Court refused to grant bail to Umar Khalid, a former JNU student leader, and Sharjeel Imam in the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case.
The varsity administration has named several students, including current JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) President Aditi Mishra, saying the slogans were "deliberate", "repeated" and had the "potential to seriously disrupt public order, campus harmony and security".
However, Mishra said the students protest every year on January 5 to condemn the violence that occurred on the campus in 2020. "All of the slogans raised in the protest were ideological and do not attack anyone personally. They were not directed towards anyone," she told PTI.
According to the administration, she said the programme was organised around 10 pm by JNUSU students. Though they initially appeared to commemorate the January 2020 incident, the nature of the event changed following a judicial verdict on the bail pleas of Khalid and Imam. Soon some participants allegedly raised slogans, which the University termed "inflammatory and objectionable".
"Such an act reflects a wilful disrespect for constitutional institutions and established norms of civil and democratic discourse. All stakeholders must understand the clear distinction between dissent and abuse and hate speech which lead to public disorder," a statement issued by the University registrar said.
