A four-member fact-finding committee of the Congress on the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) violence on January 5 submitted a report to the Congress president in which it wanted removal of JNU Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar and institution of criminal investigation against him. The Committee has also called for an independent judicial enquiry into the events of January 5.
The Committee also recommended that an independent inquiry should be set up to look at all appointments made from January 27, 2016, when Jagadesh Kumar was appointed. It also said that all other financial and administrative decisions which were taken during his tenure should also be probed. In its eight pages report, the Committee recommended an immediate rollback of the fee hike as implemented by the university authorities and recognition of JNUSU as an elected body so that proper consultation can take place between the administration and the students on the fee and other issues.
The committee, comprising Mahila Congress chief Sushmita Dev, Congress MP Hibi Eden, former JNUSU president Syed Answer Hussain and former NSUI and DUSU president Amrita Dhawan, spent time with students, teachers and officials of JNU on January 8. The Congress had appointed a four-member fact-finding committee to carry out a detailed inquiry into the violence at the JNU.
The Committee also said that a criminal investigation must also be initiated against the company that provides security on campus and faculty member, who conspired with the attackers to unleash the violence at Sabarmati and Periyar hostels and other places.
The committee also recommended fix accountability of the Commissioner of Delhi Police and other police officials because of police failure to act on the emergency calls by the students and faculty members on January 5 and in light of the overwhelming prima facie evidence that they facilitated the criminal elements on campus.
Calling Kumar the "mastermind" behind the incident, Sushmita Dev said since his appointment in 2016, he meticulously "infiltrated" the university with people in the faculty who did not merit their positions and promoted only those who would be compliant to him and had their inclination to right-wing ideology. He operates through these members of faculty to orchestrate chaos on campus.
The crisis on the campus is a culmination of his mis-governance and autocracy. He deliberately imposed his decision on the university students and teachers without due process and then refused to engage with the duly elected student and teacher representatives which led to the deadlock, she added.
On January 5 night, masked people armed with rods and sticks stormed the JNU campus and assaulted students and faculty members, and vandalised property, leaving several people injured. Before that, two students groups allegedly clashed over the semester registration process on January 3. Violence was again reported on January 4. Leftist outfits and the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) blamed each other for the violence.
Delhi Police have named 46 students it said were responsible for the violence, with several of them belonging to Left-wing groups and including JNU students' union president Aishe Ghosh, who was attacked and suffered a head injury. She has denied all allegations.