JNU moves High Court over students' protest over fee hike

JNU students and their leaders who were injured in Monday's police lathicharge, shout slogans during a press conference at the university campus. Pic /PTI

New Delhi: The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Tuesday approached the Delhi High Court seeking contempt action against its students for allegedly violating a court order against holding a protest within 100 metres of the varsity's administrative block, and the Delhi police. The JNU claimed that the students had grossly violated the August 9, 2017, order of the high court by holding a protest within 100 metres of the administrative block and affecting its day-to-day working, which has been disrupted since October 28.

It said the police also violated the court order by refusing and failing to take action to maintain law and order in the university and removing the blockade around the administrative block. The petition, filed through the central government's standing counsel Monika Arora, sought direction to issue contempt notice against the alleged contemnors (students and police) and punish them in accordance with the Contempt of Courts Act for alleged willful disobedience of the court order.

It also sought direction to Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik to provide assistance to the JNU in controlling the ongoing and any future contemptuous acts of the students and their leaders and removing them from within 100 metres of the administrative block. Continuing protests by JNU students against a hostel fee hike have rocked the national capital. On Monday, several parts of the city came to a halt as the students marched towards parliament. The students clashed with police as they were stopped during the march. While the students alleged that they were baton-charged by police, top officials of the force denied it.

On Tuesday, the Delhi police registered two FIRs in connection with the students' protest.

'Women students groped'

JNU Students' Union president Aishe Ghosh on Tuesday alleged that women students were not only "manhandled" by male police personnel in Monday's protest but were even "groped". "We take out a peaceful march. Vice-Chancellor is continuously spreading a false narrative that JNU students do not want to study... Near Ber Sarai, CRPF started beating us. Female students were treated badly by police," Ghosh told reporters here.

"I was manhandled by male police officials. They dragged me and put me on the bus. Several female students were also manhandled by police in the same way. They (female protesters) were not only physically restrained but were literally groped," she added. The JNUSU had demanded that no administrative or legal action be taken against the students protesting against the hostel fee hike.

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