Afzal Guru event: JNU orders disciplinary enquiry

New Delhi: JNU administration on Wednesday ordered a "disciplinary" enquiry into holding of an event on campus against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru despite cancellation of permission saying any talk about country's disintegration cannot be "national".

The university's move came in wake of protests by members of ABVP outside the VC office demanding expulsion of students who "misled" the university about nature of the event.

Maintaining that the act by students amounted to "indiscipline", the university authorities said the committee headed by the Chief Proctor of JNU will investigate the matter and come up with its report.

"The permission for the programme was sought by giving incomplete information, so it is an act of indiscipline. A committee headed by the Chief Proctor will examine the footage of the event and speak to the witnesses. It is on basis of the report, the varsity will take appropriate action," JNU Vice Chancellor Jagdeesh Kumar said.

Briefing about the "incomplete information", the varsity Registrar Bhupinder Zutshi said, "there was nowhere mentioned in the permission request that the event will be on Afzal Guru, they just said that they wanted to organise a cultural event. How can any talk about disintegration of nation be national?".

The student organisers of the event had pasted posters across the campus inviting them to gather for a protest march against "judicial killing of Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhatt" and in solidarity with "struggle of Kashmiri people for their democratic right to self determination" at varsity's Sabarmati dhaba yesterday.

Members of the ABVP objected to the event and wrote to the Vice Chancellor that such kind of marches should not be held on campus of an educational institution, prompting the university administration to order cancellation of the march as they "feared" that it might "disrupt" peace on campus.

But the organisers went ahead with the programme despite the cancellation of the permission and held a cultural programme, art and photo exhibition on the issue rather than a protest.

Agitated over the issue, ABVP members gathered outside VC office and shouted slogans demanding expulsion of the students who contributed to the "anti-national" activity.