New Delhi / JNU students clash with police as VP Naidu attends convocation

Hundreds of students staged a protest against the new hostel manual outside the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Monday. The University Students’ Union is also staging a protest outside the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) building where the University is organising its third annual convocation on Monday.

Vice President Venkaiah Naidu and union HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal are invited as the chief guests at the convocation.

The protest, which has entered its third week, spilled on to the streets today. The students are protesting against the new hostel manual, which has recently been passed by the University’s hostel committee.

The manual mentions fixing of curfew hours at 11:30 pm in JNU hostels, “appropriate dress code” in dining areas and hike in hostel fee structure. The students have been demanding roll back of the hostel manual.

Heavy security was deployed outside the AICTE building in Vasant Kunj where hundreds of students are protesting. “We are here to demand affordable education for all in JNU. We have been trying to have a dialogue with the administration but nobody is meeting us. We are here to make them hear our demands,” said Satish Yadav, General Secretary of JNUSU.

No immediate response was available from the administration as the convocation was underway.

Earlier on Friday, JNU Vice Chancellor had alleged that students had illegally confined the associate Dean of students in a room during their protest. JNUSU members, however, denied the allegations.

The deans of all schools in JNU also issued a statement on Friday appealing the students to let the academic activities resume. “This is a matter of grave concern that academic life at the University has come under severe threat due to the ongoing students.We appeal the students to allow academic activities to resume normally,” the dean had said in a statement.