The Jawaharlal Nehru University, its latest rules stipulate has stated that students can be imposed a penalty of ₹20,000 for holding dharnas and face admission cancellation or a fine of up to ₹30,000 for resorting to violence at the University. According to the 10-page ‘Rules of Discipline and proper conduct of students of JNU’ document the rules came into effect on February 3. It came after the university witnessed a slew of protests over the screening of a BBC documentary.
The rules will apply to all students of the university, including part-time students whether admitted before the commencement of these rules or after, the document states. Punishments have been listed for 17 “crimes” including blockage, indulging in gambling, unauthorised occupation of hostel rooms, use of abusive and derogatory language and committing forgery. The rules also mention that a copy of the complaints will be sent to the parents.
The rules document states that it has been approved by the Executive Council, the highest decision-making body of the university.
However, Executive Council members told PTI that the issue was brought as an additional agenda item and it was mentioned that this document has been prepared for “court matters”.
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad’s JNU Secretary Vikas Patel termed the new rules “authoritarian (‘tughlaqi’)” while asserting that the old code of conduct was sufficiently effective. He demanded a rollback of this “draconian” code of conduct.
This story was originally published in livemint.com. Read the full story here
