The official statement issued by the administration on Thursday didn’t reveal the number, names or political affiliations of the students against whom the hostel-transfer action was ordered. 

But JNU insiders told ScoopWhoop News that action has been taken against four-six students affiliated to ABVP including Vikrant Kumar.

On the night of October 14-15, Ahmad was allegedly assaulted by students including the members of ABVP when the later had gone to Ahmad’s room for hostel campaigning. While an immediate warden inquiry in the incident had found that Ahmad had slapped one of the ABVP campaigners Vikrant Kumar without provocation, JNUSU and other hosteliers had alleged that Ahmad was roughed up by ABVP members after he slapped Kumar. 

Following the warden inquiry, Ahmad was ordered to vacate the hostel. However, on the very next day of the scuffle, he went missing from the campus and remains untraced till now. 

In its Thursday announcement, the JNU administration also hinted that the hostel expulsion of Ahmad may be revisited if he’s traced.  

The inquiry report has prompted ABVP to allege that the inquiry committee has fabricated facts and established half-truths. 

“The chief proctor under lack of any evidence of violence on the night of 14th October has tried to keep the top bosses including Arvind Kejriwal and Rahul Gandhi satisfied. It was pressure from these politicians that has resulted in false indictment of Vikrant and his friends. The verdict is definitely not acceptable and we are considering all options to challenge it before higher authorities,” ABVP’s JNU unit said in a statement. 

ABVP also protested against the inquiry report on Friday near the varsity’s administration block. 

On the other hand, the Left-dominated JNU Students’ Union and Ahmad’s family have termed the university’s action as “mild punishment”, directly blaming the vice-chancellor of manipulation. 

“We are sure that VC has forced to change the report to shield ABVP activists and changed many important points that says that there was a group violence on Najeeb (recognized on 16th warden committee report),” JNUSU said in a statement after the administration’s announcement. 

Calling it a “mild punishment”, the JNUSU also said the action recommended by the inquiry committee is a “kind of encouragement to ABVP activists to beat anybody and get impunity with just hostel change.”  

Ahmad’s family also echoed similar views. 

“It’s a face-saving gesture. They needed to show something to the court which had asked them last month to take action against those who assaulted Najeeb. We will continue to protest to put pressure on police to trace Ahmad,” a family member of Ahmad told ScoopWhoop News. 

On Friday, Delhi High Court slammed Delhi police for remaining clueless about Ahmad asking how can a man just “vanish suddenly.”

“It is over 50 days. Still you (police) do not know about his whereabouts. How can somebody vanish suddenly and police has no clue about it? Even if we think of the worst, something has to be found out. We are pained that the missing person has not been traced till date,” a bench of Justices G S Sistani and Vinod Goel, who were hearing a habeas corpus plea filed by Ahmad’s mother. 

On the other hand, JNU’s counsel Monika Arora submitted that “since day one, the university is in regular contact with the Delhi police obtaining updates and providing relevant information to the police regarding the incident.”

Suggesting that the hostel-transfer action against ABVP students “will be again looked into”, the counsel also told the bench that Chief Proctor’s office has acknowledged that there was a scuffle and submitted the Proctorial Board report on the incident at the hostel. 

Feature image source: PTI/File Photo