Image Courtesy: TOI
Protests by the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students intensified after they took to the streets against the proposed fee hike by the Inter-Hall administration without the consultation of the pupils.
In the protest that lasted for hours, the students blocked the campus for hours, inadvertently manhandling three female journalists and police personnel.
Anupam Gautam from IANS TV, covering the protest, was one of the journalists manhandled by the students. She spoke to The Indian Express and said, “While I was taking a few shots of the protests, some of the students surrounded me and started raising ‘Godi Media Go Back’ and other slogans. One male student blocked my way and tried to snatch away my camera.”
“They also tried to grab me, twisted my arms and attempted to break my equipment. They also hurled abuses at me and my fellow reporters covering the incident,” she added.
It was not just the media who faced the ire of the protestors. The police too was reminded of their fragility when the students started raising slogans of “Tis Hazari, Tis Hazari” and “Vakilo ko bulao” (call the lawyers), in a reference to the police-lawyer clashes at the Tis Hazari court complex last week.
Faculty member Vandana Mishra was also kept in illegal captivity by protesting students in the classroom.
In a video which has been doing the rounds on social media, Dr Vandana Mishra, Associate Dean of Students, is seen sitting helplessly in a packed classroom where protesting students are seen sloganeering and hooting in deafening volume. Few students can be seen playing the Tambourine while others raise slogans in a rhythmical manner.
She was also roughed by the students earlier in the day.
The agitation by the students had taken a turn for the worst after their demands for an audience with the Vice Chancellor were not met. They were only pacified when HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ who was attending the convocation ceremony yesterday, agreed to mediate between the students and the administration and find a middle ground.
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