The CRPF has been called to the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus in Delhi after the JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) went on strike against a new draft hostel manual approved by the varsity administration.
Union president N Sai Balaji tweeted out photos of CRPF personnel on campus on Monday.
The JNUSU has been on strike against the new hostel manual alleging it has provisions for curfew timings, dress code and hostel fee hike.
The university had on Friday said that the hostel fee has been hiked to create better facilities for students and dismissed that it would impose any curfew timings or dress code on students, PTI reported.
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However, several student groups like the Left-backed All India Students’ Association and Congress-affiliated National Students’ Union of India have demanded a rollback of the fee hike.
A statement issued by the students’ union, along with other student groups like Chhatra RJD and BAPSA, said the draft hostel manual also included “massive fines and punishments for expressing dissent” and wanted to convert JNU campus into a “prison”.
“It also seeks to arbitrarily hike the mess bill to the tune of twice or even thrice the amount currently charged by an average hostel mess,” the statement said.
The manual was missing procedures for the application of reservation policies in hostel allotment, the group claimed, excluding “students from socially and economically marginalised backgrounds from the university.”
It also condemned the exclusion of the students’ union from the meeting to decide on the hostel manual.
JNU Vice Chancellor Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar tweeted out a statement by the varsity’s registrar, which said the change in curfew timings and dress code were “rumours” and that there was “no massive hike in fee” or “curbs on free movement in the campus”.
JNU students have taken out a march to the VC’s house on Monday. JNUSU vice president Saket Moon told Hindustan Times they had been given a notice against their scheduled protest on Sunday night.
Meanwhile, Delhi Police said the CRPF personnel were not inside the campus but outside.
“One company force comprising of 80-90 paramilitary and local police personnel are deployed outside the JNU campus. It is just a precautionary arrangement as we have got to know about a protest over fee hike on the campus. No policeman is inside the campus,” DCP Devender Arya told HT.