JNUSU ends 17-day protest after rustication orders of its office-bearers revoked

The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has revoked the rustication of students’ union office-bearers Aditi Mishra (president), K. Gopika Babu (vice-president), Sunil Yadav (general secretary) and Danish Ali (joint secretary), and of former JNUSU president Nitish Kumar, bringing the union’s 17-day hunger strike to an end on Tuesday.

‘Clear all penalties’

The five students had been rusticated and asked to pay a penalty of ₹20,000 each on February 8 for “vandalism” during a demonstration staged the previous year against the installation of a biometric system for entry into the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Central Library on the campus.

The students have been asked to clear the fines immediately.

The impasse came to an end after Dean of the School of Social Sciences Vivek Kumar met student representatives on Monday and agreed to revoke the rustication orders, which was among the 13 demands the protesters had placed before the administration.

The university also agreed to withdraw all the FIRs against students for protests in the aftermath of the rustication and to review the 2023 Chief Proctor Office manual on demonstrations, which stipulates stringent fines on protesting students.

While Vice-Chancellor Shantishree Dhulipudi Pandit said JNU never took “extreme action” against the rusticated students who had “destroyed property worth “₹20 lakh”, the union said the administration was forced to “bow down before the collective strength of the student community”.

Committee on JNUEE

As per the minutes of the meeting between Mr. Kumar and the student representatives on Monday, the administration has agreed to form a committee, which would include a JNUSU representative, to examine bringing back the JNU Entrance Examination (JNUEE) in place of the current admission process that is based on exams conducted by the National Testing Agency.

The university has also agreed to several other demands, which include an audit of the Equal Opportunity Office, forming a panel on hostel reservations, considering a 25% increase in merit-cum-means scholarship and structural audits and renovation of all hostels.

No to ‘extreme action’

In a release, Ms. Pandit stated: “This administration has been the most democratic and humanitarian and never took extreme action against the rusticated students for destroying public property worth ₹20 lakh.”

She added that the rusticated students had violated all prescribed restrictions, including staying on the campus and participating in all protests, which she described as political, in violation of their bail conditions.

The JNUSU termed its 17-day agitation part of a wider struggle against the “criminalisation of dissent”. The union added that it would not let the commitments made by the administration “be reduced to empty promises, indefinite consultations or bureaucratic delays”.