The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has alleged that “provocative slogans” such as “Free Umar Khalid” and “Long Live Naxalbari” were written on the walls of Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), urging the administration to take cognisance of the incidents and appropriate action against those responsible.
ABVP JNU demands that the university administration take cognisance of these incidents, identify those responsible, and take appropriate action to safeguard the dignity and academic atmosphere of the campus,” ABVP JNU said in a post on X on Saturday. “Freedom of expression must go hand in hand with responsibility and respect for public property and differing viewpoints. Universities should be spaces for constructive debate, not provocation and confrontation. The JNU administration has reportedly taken cognisance of the matter and is looking into it, saying it would not allow vested interests to disturb peace on the campus. He has been charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). A case was filed against him under sedition and other charges following a speech at Aligarh Muslim University in which he called for blocking roads connecting the Northeast with the rest of India. “Regarding their demand for holding a union election, I informed them that we have already formed a draft committee tasked with drafting a constitution. They then asked for a deadline.
Umar Khalid, a former JNU research scholar, has been in jail since September 2020 in connection with the larger conspiracy behind the February 2020 Delhi riots. The case relates to violence that left 53 people dead in the national capital. Sharjeel Imam, another former JNU scholar, was arrested in 2020 over speeches delivered during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Speaking to reporters, Jamia Registrar Rizvi said he had personally met students staging a hunger strike and discussed their demand for students’ union elections. I told them that the sooner they complete the draft constitution, the sooner we will conduct the elections—a proposal they agreed to,” the registrar said, according to news agency ANI.
