JNU orders probe into event on Afzal Guru

Varsity decision comes as ABVP activists demand expulsion of ‘erring’ students
‘Pro-azadi’ slogans raised in Delhi
• Students from J&K raised “pro-azadi” slogans on the premises of the Press Club of India (PCI)
• They had assembled to attend a function organised by the Committee for Release of Political
• Prisoners (CRPP), which was steered by Prof SAR Geelani, who was acquitted in the Parliament attack case
• An eyewitness said: “As the function was on, a section in the gathering started raising slogan Humey kya chahiye-azadi (What we want is freedom).” They were all students from J&K
Jawahar Lal Nehru University (JNU) administration ordered a “disciplinary” inquiry into holding of an event on campus against the hanging of Afzal Guru despite cancellation of permission saying any talk about country’s disintegration cannot be “national”.
The university’s move came in wake of protests by members of the ABVP outside the VC office demanding expulsion of students who “misled” the university about nature of the event.
Maintaining that the act by students amounted to “indiscipline”, the university authorities said the committee headed by the Chief Proctor of JNU would investigate the matter and come up with its report.
“The permission for the programme was sought by giving incomplete information, so it is an act of indiscipline. A committee headed by the Chief Proctor will examine the footage of the event and speak to the witnesses. It is on basis of the report, the varsity will take appropriate action,” JNU Vice Chancellor Jagdeesh Kumar said.
Briefing about the “incomplete information”, varsity Registrar Zutshi said, “There was no where mentioned in the permission request that the event will be on Afzal Guru, they just said that they wanted to organise a cultural event. How can any talk about disintegration of nation be national?”
The student organisers of the event had pasted posters across the campus inviting them to gather for a protest march against “judicial killing of Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhatt” and in solidarity with “struggle of Kashmiri people for their democratic right to self determination” at varsity’s Sabarmati dhaba .
Members of the ABVP objected to the event and wrote to the Vice Chancellor that such kind of marches should not be held on campus of an educational institution, prompting the university administration to order cancellation of the march as they “feared” that it might “disrupt” peace on campus.
But the organisers went ahead with the programme despite the cancellation of the permission and held a cultural programme, art and photo exhibition on the issue rather than a protest.
Agitated over the issue, ABVP members gathered outside VC office and shouted slogans demanding expulsion of the students who contributed to the “anti-national” activity.
JNU students’ union joint secretary Saurabh Kumar, who is the only ABVP member in the union, said, “How can an event on Afzal Guru, who attacked the temple of democracy, be held here? We are demanding expulsion of those who organised it”.