HC reserves order on JNU's contempt plea against students

The Delhi High Court today reserved its order on a plea of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) seeking contempt action against its students' union office bearers for holding protests within 100 metres of the administrative block.

Justice V K Rao heard the counsel for both parties and directed them to file written submissions by tomorrow. "Parties heard. Order reserved. Counsel shall file written submissions by tomorrow evening," the judge said.

During the hearing, central government standing counsel Monika Arora, appearing for JNU, submitted that the students had on February 15 violated the August 9, 2017 order of the high court by obstructing access to the administrative block of the varsity in protest against compulsory attendance.

 

Arora, who showed pictures of the protest to the judge, reiterated that the students had created a threatening atmosphere in the university and called other students for mass signature campaign against the mandatory attendance issue.

However, advocate Govind Manoharan, appearing for the protesting students of JNU, contended that the contempt petition was incomplete and without bonafide.

Manoharan, along with advocate Abhik Chimni, argued that an adverse inference should be drawn against the university for suppression of evidence, as it had not produced the CCTV footage of the alleged incident before the court.

The counsel claimed that the JNU had procured some footage from social media, which it was using against the students, and these were not authentic.

The university counsel countered these submissions and said they had resorted to protest despite warnings and notices from the authorities asking them not to disrupt the functioning of the institution and carry out peaceful protests at the Sabarmati lawns.

The court had on February 16, in an interim order, directed the JNU students not to obstruct the vice chancellor and other staff from entering the administrative block to carry out their work.

The interim order was passed on JNU's plea that the protests near the administrative block was hampering its day-to-day functioning, including the disbursal salaries in connection with the Seventh Pay Commission.

The students had on February 15 allegedly blocked the administration block demanding a meeting with the vice chancellor on the issue of compulsory attendance and had allegedly stopped the two rectors from leaving the building.

The varsity had moved the high court when the students were protesting against the JNU's admission policy based on a University Grants Commission notification slashing the seats for MPhil and PhD courses.