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‘Where is Komal Sharma?’: JNUSU reacts amid ‘provocative slogan’ row, calls it ‘attempt to defame JNU’
Speaking of the event where “provocative” slogans were raised, the JNUSU said a vigil was held on January 5 against Jan 2020 violence in the campus.
The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) on Tuesday reacted to the ongoing row over “provocative” slogans raised in the campus, saying there was an “organised attempt to defame the institution and intensify the persecution of students”.
Speaking of the event where “provocative” slogans were raised against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah on Monday, the JNUSU said a vigil was held on January 5 against the Jan 2020 violence that unfolded in the campus.
A row erupted earlier in the day after slogans were raised by students at JNU, allegedly against PM Modi and Union minister Amit Shah hours after the Supreme Court refused to grant bail to former students Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the 2020 riots conspiracy case.
However, the JNUSU said the event was organised to keep the memory of the 2020 attacks on JNU alive and to “highlight pattern of injustice at Sabarmati Hostel”, which was the prime target of the 2020 attacks.
"On 5 January 2020, armed masked goons invaded the JNU campus and attacked students and teachers in the Sabarmati Hostel and other areas. This was no "clash" but an open assault on a community that was peacefully resisting a massive fee hike, while the police stood as spectators. Six years have passed since that night of terror," the JNUSU statement read.
"Where is Komal Sharma and the ABVP goons who accepted planning and executing the attack on national television? The Delhi Police—which displays an extraordinary efficiency in filing FIRs against JNUSU office bearers for even the smallest acts of democratic resistance—has failed to make a single arrest in the 5 January case," it added.
On January 5, 2020, a mob had attacked the JNUSU President Aishe Ghosh, during a protest march in the campus over the hostel fee hike. Days later, an unidentified woman was seen with the attackers and later identified as Komal Sharm. However, no arrests have been made in the case so far.
“JNUSU condemns such attempts and reiterates its commitment to exercising and defending the democratic and constitutional rights to dissent and all attempts to dilute and deny the same,” it added.
What has JNU administration said?
The security chief of the Jawaharlal Nehru University has written to the Delhi Police, seeking an FIR in the incident.
A letter, written by the university administration to the Delhi Police, said certain students raised "highly objectionable, provocative and inflammatory" slogans at an event on Monday that were in direct contempt of the Supreme Court and reflect a "wilful disrespect for constitutional institutions and established norms of civil and democratic discourse".
The university said the programme was organised around 10 pm on Monday by students linked to the JNUSU. The gathering initially appeared limited to commemorating the January 5, 2020, incident, with around 30 to 35 students present.
It named several students, including current JNUSU president Aditi Mishra, and said they were identified during the programme and claimed that the slogans were "deliberate", "repeated" and had the "potential to seriously disrupt public order, campus harmony and security".
The University has also ordered an internal inquiry, as several BJP leaders expressed anger over the incident, alleging that the slogans reflected the “Urban Naxal mindset that is supported by Rahul Gandhi and the Congress”.
