Court Stays JNU Punishments, Students End Hunger Strike

The students lifted their heroic hunger strike after the Court stayed all punishments and directed the JNU VC to respond to the appeals.

The JNU VC had, quite literally, been running away from facing the demands by JNU students and teachers that he review and revoke the punishments recommended by the ‘High Level Enquiry Committee (HLEC)’. In spite of 52 Academic Council members passing a resolution to this effect, the JNU VC fled the Academic Council meeting rather than implement the resolution. Thus, he became the first Vice Chancellor of a Central University to jog away from an Academic Council meeting. In spite of a 16-day hunger strike by students peacefully appealing that he revoke the HLEC punishments, he refused to respond.

What the High Court order of 13 May 2016 does is to firmly tell the JNU VC to face the students’ appeals rather than run away.

The JNU VC had been trying to hide behind the fig-leaf of the HLEC process and punishments being ‘subjudice’, claiming that the University cannot revoke the punishments since the matter is in Court. This is what the ‘Urgent Appeal’ by the JNU Administration on Day 12 of the hunger strike claimed. The High Court order clearly indicates that the JNU VC’s claim was a lie. The High Court orders the VC to hear and respond to the appeals made by students – and stays all punishments until the appeals are heard. Not only that, the Court order states that in case the VC rejects the students’ appeals, he cannot implement the punishments for two weeks after the rejection; students can approach the Court for relief in those two weeks.

After the Court order, the hunger strike was ended on its 16th day. Comrade Chintu Kumari and Anant Kumar of AISA had remained on fast for 16 whole days, while the JNUSU General Secretary Rama Naga had withdrawn from the hunger strike on the 15th day after his medical condition severely deteriorated. Teachers and students celebrated the end of the hunger strike and the stay on the punishments, and the hunger strikers accepted juice from the parents and sisters of Chintu Kumari and Umar Khalid. The parents and sisters also addressed the gathering, with Comrade Chintu’s father Comrade Ramlakhan Ram speaking about the struggle for rights and dignity of oppressed people in Bhojpur, where Chintu was born.

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