By GHAZALA AHMAD / Maktoob Media
Farooque Alam, a PhD scholar with a disability at Jawaharlal Nehru University, was subjected to physical assault by both hostel wardens and members of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarti Parishad (ABVP) in Kaveri Hostel on campus on 6 September, Wednesday.
Alam was subjected to a brutal beating, dragged, and physically assaulted by ABVP members after receiving a court judgment from the Kaveri Hostel warden related to the incident during the 2019 fees hike movement protesting the significantly increased fee structure at JNU.
A student in the Kaveri hostel told Maktoob: “Despite knowing that the matter is under proctorial scrutiny, wardens not only asked Alam to vacate the hostel but also came to his room, barged in and threw his belongings.”
The students also alleged that hostel wardens called ABVP members and sought their help in compelling Alam to vacate his room, which he has been staying for the past 12 years.
National Students Union of India (NSUI), JNU unit called the wardens’ action “draconian, unprecedented and inhumane” for forcing a student vacate the hostel.
“The Kaveri Hostel wardens, especially Gopal Ram, an assistant professor at the Centre for Linguistics, have crossed all limits of cruelty and senselessness. The way they have forcibly tried to evict a senior student of Kaveri hostel Farooque Alam, a differently abled 4th year Ph.D. student at Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies, JNU, speaks volumes about their mindless apathy towards students,” read a statement by NSUI JNU unit.
It further said: “In the long tradition, particularly gained prominence during the unfortunate tenure of the utterly anti-student vice-chancellor of this university. Mamidala Jagadish Kumar, of harassing student activists in the name of bizarre and frivolous cases and proctorial inquiries, Mr. Alam was also handed down a judgment in the incident happened during the fees hike movement against exorbitantly increased fees-structure in 2019. The judgment one-sidedly asked him to vacate the hostel. The matter subsequently went to the Delhi High Court, and one hearing in this case has already happened.”
This story was originally published in maktoobmedia.com. Read the full story here