Jamia cancels exams; JNU teachers say no classes till VC resigns
In Jamia Millia Islamia, where police launched a violent crackdown on December 15 after protests began over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA, the vice chancellor cancelled examinations and announced efforts to approach court for an FIR against police officials.
The Jamia Millia Islamia administration promised to approach court for a criminal case against the Delhi Police, while teachers at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) said the university cannot return to normal unless the vice chancellor resigns, deepening a crisis in two of the capital’s most prominent educational institutions rocked by protests over the last month.
The JNU Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) held demonstrations outside their schools on Monday morning and said there was an atmosphere of fear following the January 5 attack that targeted staff as well as students in a three-hour-long rampage that left many with serious injuries.
“We will not become a party to his (VC Jagadesh Kumar’s) attempts to create a fiction of ‘normalcy’ in the university that wishes away the real climate of fear and terror he has created,” the teachers’ body said, prompting a warning from the administration.
The JNUTA, a body elected by teachers, rejected the advisory and said that the VC must be replaced.
In Jamia Millia Islamia, where police launched a violent crackdown on December 15 after protests began over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA, the vice chancellor cancelled examinations and announced efforts to approach court for an FIR against police officials. The decision came after a protest on Monday, when students said the examination schedule was meant to thwart the anti-CAA protest outside of the campus.
“The examination schedule was scattered. In order to ensure normalisation of campus, we wanted the exams to be conducted on time. However, by creating a schedule where one department would have their exam on a certain day, and other departments on some other day, the administration was trying to ensure that students weren’t united in their protests against CAA,” said Jamia Coordination Committee member and undergraduate student Al-Amin Kabir.
The students also sought a written assurance from VC Najma Akhtar that the university administration will file an FIR against Delhi Police through a magistrate before January 16. Akhtar assured students that the process of registering the FIR will start soon without committing to a deadline. The varsity later said it would “explore the possibility of moving court for the registration of FIR in the 15th December 2019 police brutality in university library case at the earliest.”
