JNUTA accuses JNU of 'criminalising protest', calls FIR over students' event 'ridiculous'

The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) has accused the JNU administration of “criminalising protest” after the university sought registration of an FIR over slogan-raising at a students’ event commemorating the 6th anniversary of January 5 campus attack.

Terming the move “ridiculous”, the JNUTA said in a statement that the JNU administration and the Delhi police are precisely those that “failed to first prevent the undeniably criminal act of violence six years ago”, and then found themselves “unable to identify” and take action against those responsible.

According to the teachers’ association, “This FIR saga is evidence of the fact that ten years of the pursuit of the agenda of destroying JNU has failed to vanquish the spirit of the University.”

A protest at JNU sparked a controversy as objectionable slogans targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah were allegedly raised over the denial of bail by the Supreme Court to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the 2020 riots conspiracy case.

The statement from JNU teachers' body comes after the JNU administration said on Wednesday that an FIR has been registered and strict action will be taken against students if found raising "objectionable slogans" .

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'Oppressive conditions' on JNU campus

Over the past 10 years, the JNU administration under two successive vice-chancellors has systematically “eliminated” the role of the faculty from both the admission process and faculty recruitment.

The JNU entrance exams were handed over to the National Testing Agency (NTA) and faculty recruitment has been increasingly centralized in the vice-chancellor’s office.

“Yet, the spirit of resistance - to the authoritarianism of the JNU Administration, the extreme administrative incompetence it has bred, and the tendencies pushing for undermining of academic standards, social and gender justice it has generated – has remained alive,” it said.

The teachers’ body said that many students and faculty members who joined the university under the new administrative framework have also become part of this resistance due to what it called "oppressive conditions” created by the administration.

The JNUTA expressed confidence that the public would see through what it called attempts to engineer a media trial of the university. It condemned the recent decision and appealed to faculty members to remain vigilant against provocations.