JNU student, issued 'warning' letter, denies taking part in protest on campus

A Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student, who was issued a "warning" letter for allegedly taking part in a protest against the university norms, denied the allegation today and claimed that he was out-of-station on the day of the protest.

The chief proctor of the university had issued the "warning" letter to Om Prasad, a student of the School of Social Sciences, on November 15, for taking part in a protest in front of the administration building on March 16.

"This act of Prasad is unbecoming of a student of JNU. Om Prasad is hereby warned and advised to be careful in the future. He must refrain himself from getting involved in such activities," the letter read, adding that strict disciplinary action would be taken if the norms were violated again.

Chief Proctor Kaushal Kumar did not respond to phone calls. However, Prasad showed a copy of a flight ticket and claimed that he had boarded a Hyderabad-bound SpiceJet flight from Delhi at 6 am on March 16.

To back his claim, he also showed two taxi receipts -- one from JNU to the Delhi airport and another in Hyderabad.

"On March 16, I took a SpiceJet flight at 6 am from Delhi to Hyderabad. Even earlier, I was called for an inquiry regarding this matter, but the proctor kept insisting that there was CCTV as well as video footage taken by the guards," he said.

"This is a clear case of falsely accusing students and punishing them in a completely arbitrary manner. I have enough evidence to prove my absence from the campus on that day, but what about those students, who were on the campus but did not take part in the protest?," Prasad asked.