A dossier prepared by a group of teachers of the Jawaharlal Nehru University is likely to add more fuel to the fiery controversy surrounding the prestigious academic institution. The 200-page report, which has been put together by a group of 11 JNU teachers, describes the university as a "den of irregularitiest."
The document, which was prepared in 2015 and released only recently to a few journalists, has been submitted to the JNU administration, The Wire reports. The report has been prepared by a group of 11 teachers, who are believed to be close to the Bharatiya Janata Party and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the students' wing of the RSS.
Amita Singh, professor at the Centre for Law and Governance, who heads the group of teachers, claimed that sex workers inside JNU hostel messes are a common thing.
"Over one thousand boys and girls students have been fined from Rs 2000 to Rs 5000 for consuming alcohol, for indulging in immoral activities in their hostels. At a casual glance at the gates of the hostel one can see hundreds of empty alcohol bottles. Sex workers have been openly employed in hostel messes, where they not only lure JNU girls into their organized racket but also pollute the boys," Amita Singh was quoted as saying.
"How come big and high brand cars are moving around the hostels particularly in the night hours. Some security staff is also involved in this racket. Money, sex, drugs and alcohol are tools through which freshers are being lured into this ring," she added.
"How come big and high brand cars are moving around the hostels particularly in the night hours. Some security staff is also involved in this racket. Money, sex, drugs and alcohol are tools through which freshers are being lured into this ring," she added.
The document titled 'Jawaharlal Nehru University: The Den of Secessionism and Terrorism' also accuses a few university teachers of encouraging a "decadent culture in JNU and legitimising separatist movements in India."
"It is a matter of serious concern that some JNU academics masquerading as liberals and feminists have been engaged in nefarious and anti-national activities of maligning India publically through their statements, lectures, publications and extra-academic activities of their NGOs which receive liberal funding from foreign hostile agencies," the document states.
Assistant professor in the Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies, Hari Ram Mishra, who was part of the group which prepared the dossier, told The Wire that they want to safeguard JNU from more trouble.
"The reason we compiled and submitted the dossier to the university administration was to prevent future disturbances in the university. JNU has become a place where communists terrorise others in the name of freedom of speech. Our point is that students should be apolitical. If you want to enter politics, there is a huge field outside. But JNU Students' Union should be limited to campus work only. But unfortunately, here communists are preferred over meritorious students," Mishra said.
The report assumes significance as a high-level committee formed to probe the recent incidents on campus found many students guilty of raising anti-national slogans.
Earier this week, based on the recommendations of the high-level committee, the JNU administration rusticated research scholars Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, and also fined student leader Kanhaiya Kumar Rs 10,000 for their involvement in a controversial event held in campus in the memory of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
ABVP leader Saurabh Sharma, who had complained against Kanhaiya and his comrades for their allegedly "anti-national" activities, has also been fined Rs 10,000 for the row.