Show-cause notices were issued to 21 JNU students. (File Photo)
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Students' Union has decided to oppose disciplinary action taken against students who have been sent show-cause notices to explain their alleged role in the February 9 event.
A decision in this regard was taken at a JNU students' union council meeting on Wednesday night. Calling the enquiry partial and biased, the students' union has refused to accept the show-cause notices.
Show-cause notices were issued to 21 students on March 14 asking them to explain why disciplinary action should not be in initiated against them after a five-member high-level committee of the university found them guilty of "violating university norms and discipline rules". JNU authorities extended the deadline till Friday.
JNU students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who was arrested on charges of sedition and later released on bail, said, "There are no grounds given in the show-cause notice served to students. The high-powered committee report hasn't taken into consideration the concerns of the students."
Another student, Rama Naga, who has been issued the notice, told NDTV, "The notice is vague. How do I respond to that? Shouldn't we be told what we are being asked to show cause for?"
The report has said that there was a deliberate attempt to mislead the administration about the real nature of the event where alleged anti-national slogans were shouted.
The report also says that the organisers allowed the event to be taken over by a group of outsiders who created a charged atmosphere by raising provocative slogans. "The outsider group has brought disrepute to the entire JNU community", it said.
One JNU student, identified as Mujeeb Gattoo was also seen raising slogans, the report says. It also says the security did not make any efforts to stop outsiders from shouting provocative slogans and also made no effort to prevent them from leaving the campus.
The event was organized by Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, among others. The two were arrested on sedition charges and are still in judicial custody.