JNU slogan row: Univerity seeks FIR on 'provocative' sloganeering against PM Modi, Amit Shah on campus

New Delhi: The JNU administration has asked that an FIR be filed under relevant sections of the BNS against students involved in carrying out “objectionable“ slogans against PM Modi after the Umar Khalid ruling by the Supreme Court.

The administration said that the program was held to mark six years of the violence that erupted in the campus in 2020, and that after the Umar Khalid ruling, the gathering became agitated.

In response, the JNUSU released a statement and said there was an attempt to persecute students.

“On 5 January 2020, armed masked goons invaded the JNU campus and attacked students and teachers in the Sabarmati Hostel ... This was an open assault on a community that was peacefully resisting a massive fee hike,” the Student Union said.

“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,” the JNUSU said, adding that this was an “organised attempt defame the institution and intensify the persecution of students”.

The Jawaharlal Nehru University administration said that it will take “the strictest action” against students found raising objectionable slogans. “Universities are centres for innovation and new ideas, and they cannot be permitted to be converted into laboratories of hate. Freedom of speech and expression is a fundamental right,” the JNU administration said in a statement.

“But any form of violence, unlawful conduct or anti-national activity will not be tolerated under any circumstances. Students involved in this incident will also face disciplinary measures including immediate suspension, expulsion and permanent debarment from the University,” it further said.

On January 5, the JNU Students Union held an event - 'A night of resistance with Guerrilla Dhaba' - to look back at six years to the day violence broke out in the JNU campus. JNUSU president Aditi Mishra and vice president Gopika Babu were present. However, the gathering swelled and some students raised slogans against PM Modi and HM Amit Shah.

In a letter to the police, the JNU security wing said that the slogans were a “direct contempt of the Supreme Court”. “The raising of such slogans is wholly inconsistent with democratic dissent, violates the JNU code of conduct, and has the potential to seriously disturb public order, campus harmony, and the safety and security environment of the university and the nation,” the letter, in which the security wing asked for an FIR, said.