New Delhi [India], February 26 : The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers Association has demanded the immediate release of all university students detained following a protest march taken out to the Union Ministry of Education. The association has asked for strict action against the Delhi Police for the alleged brutality on students during the protest.
In an offical statement, JNUTA condemned the alleged police brutality against the students and asked for the police stationed at the University gates to "leave immediately."
The statement comes after student protestors of JNU led by JNUSU (Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union) were detained by Delhi Police after they took out a protest against Vice-Chancellor Santishree D Pandit. After the police locked the university doors and prevented protestors from crossing the barricades, they met with a scuffle, following which the police detained several protestors.
"The JNUTA demands immediate release of all the detained students and strict action against the police officials responsible for transgressing the laws they are themselves bound by while enforcing them. The Police which are still at the campus gates, must also leave immediately. We appeal to JNU teachers to remain vigilant and speak up against this violence and onslaught on democracy," JNUTA wrote in the statement.
JNUTA stated that the police detained two JNUSU office bearers and accused the police of manhandling several female protestors at the JNU gate. JNUTA expressed concerns over the well-being of detainees.
"The JNUTA strongly condemns the brutal use of force by the Delhi Police against JNU students and the detention of several of them, including two JNUSU Office bearers. Reports indicate that several students, including women, have been severely injured in the police action at the JNU gate, during which even the laws prohibiting male policemen from acting against women were brazenly flouted. The JNUTA is also extremely concerned about the well-being of those detained. There are several women among them, and they have been taken to unconfirmed locations that are far away from the campus. Reports are also coming of them being subjected to further police beatings while in custody," the statement read.
The association alleged that the police came with the agenda to prevent the students from "exercising their democratic rights" and accused them of practising authoritarianism instead of law enforcement.
"The police action today, and they also came armed with weapons, had the sole objective of preventing, come what may, the students from exercising their democratic right to march to the Ministry of Education. Prohibition of such marches, and then prosecuting those who march, and the use of excessive force against them, have become part of the standard playbook of the Delhi Police. In the process, it has become an instrument of not law enforcement but of authoritarianism and the curbing of constitutionally guaranteed democratic rights," JNUTA wrote.
Further in its attack, JNUTA condemned the "bankrupt" JNUA administration and the VC for failing to protect the students and held them guilty for the present circumstances. It further questioned the Ministry of Education over the VC's remarks and the police action during the protest.
JNUTA argued, "The JNUTA knows that the bankrupt JNU Administration led by the VC cannot be expected to discharge its duty as guardian of the students' interests. After all, it is its own actions that have led to the current situation. The continuing refusal to act against her and even today's police action, however, also raises serious questions about the Ministry of Education. Is it that her infamous casteist remarks, that too while criticising Regulations notified with the approval of the Ministry of Education, and her other illegal actions, in fact have the endorsement of the Ministry? Was today's march prevented because the Ministry wants to avoid answering the uncomfortable questions it would have had to face from JNU students?"