JNU Violence Not Possible Without Varsity Connivance, Police Inaction: Teachers' Association

The mob violence on the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus could not have been possible without the connivance of the varsity administration and deliberate inaction by police, the JNU Teachers' Association alleged on Wednesday. It also slammed Vice Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar for asking students to put the past behind and return to the varsity premises. 

"How can students go back to hostels or to classrooms when they do not feel safe? How can teachers go back to teach when they do not feel safe?" the JNUTA said in a statement.

It said the command to students and faculty to forget and to accept administrative terror as normalcy "is an insult to injury".

A masked mob armed with sticks and rods on Sunday attacked students and teachers and damaged property on the campus, injuring at least 35 people, including JNU Students' Union president Aishe Ghosh.

"The mob violence could not have been possible without the active connivance of the administration and deliberate inaction by Delhi Police," it said.

Under fire from students and faculty members for not doing enough when they were brutally attacked by a masked mob on campus, Vice Chancellor Kumar had on Tuesday urged the students to put the past behind and return to the varsity's premises.

"Our heart goes out to all the injured students. The incident (violence) is unfortunate," Kumar had said in a brief statement.

"I would like to tell students that JNU campus is a secure place. I urge all students to come back to the campus. Let us put the past behind," he had said.