JNUTA sees admin connivance in campus violence, blames police inaction

The mob attack in Jawaharlal Nehru University could not have been possible without the active connivance of JNU administration and deliberate inaction by police, the JNU Teachers' Association alleged Wednesday, even as a section of teachers accused it of "instigating" students.

JNUTA also slammed Vice Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar for asking students to "put the past behind" and return to classes.

"How can students go back to hostels or to classrooms when they do not feel safe? How can teachers go back to teach when they do not feel safe?" JNUTA said in a statement.

The teachers association said the command to students and faculty to forget and to accept administrative terror as normalcy "is an insult to injury".

 

"The mob violence could not have been possible without the active connivance of the administration and deliberate inaction by Delhi Police," it said.

However, another section of teachers, under the Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers Federation, alleged that a few students have been "radicalized" following instigation from JNUTA.

A masked mob armed with sticks and rods on Sunday attacked students and teachers and damaged property on the campus, injuring at least 35 people, including JNU Students' Union president Aishe Ghosh.

Under fire from students and faculty members for not taking immediate measures when they were brutally attacked by the mob, Vice Chancellor Kumar on Tuesday urged the students to put the past behind and return to the varsity's premises.

"Our heart goes out to all the injured students. The incident (violence) is unfortunate," Kumar had said in a brief statement.

"I would like to tell students that JNU campus is a secure place. I urge all students to come back to the campus. Let us put the past behind," he had said.