JNU students, Delhi police clash as protests over hike in fee turn violent

The students of the university had announced a boycott of the convocation ceremony, which Vice President Venkaiah Naidu was addressing on Monday.

Monday, November 11, 2019 - 

PTI

Massive protests broke in New Delhi on Monday as hundreds of students from the Jawaharlal Nehru University staged a protest outside the varsity campus over a reported fee hike and the hostel draft manual, even as Vice President N Venkaiah Naidu was addressing a convocation ceremony inside. 

The protesting students had wanted to march towards the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), where vice president Venkaiah Naidu was addressing the convocation, the students alleged that the administration had put barricades at its entry gate and also deployed CRPF personnel to stop them from staging protests on the campus.

Visuals of the protests showed students trying to climb over the barricades and trying to resist the security personnel who were deployed at the spot. Visuals also showed students being dragged away from the gates of the university. The Delhi Police had to resort to use of water cannons on students and members of the Jawaharlal Nehru Students' Union (JNUSU) to force the protesters to disperse.

After the clashes turned violent, a delegation of Delhi Police, comprising Special Commissioner of Police (headquarters) R S Krishnia and DCP (Central) Mandeep Singh Randhawa on Monday entered the JNU campus following a massive protest by students. The police officials are expected to hold a mediation meeting between students and Vice Chancellor Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, which was the demand of the agitating students to call off the protest.

The JNU was holding its third convocation on Monday, which was addressed by Vice President Naidu along with Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank'. The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union had called for a boycott of the convocation ceremony and demanded the roll back of the hostel draft manual and fee hike proposed by the JNU administration.

Sharing photographs of the blocked entry gates, former JNUSU President, N Sai Balaji wrote, "Barricades at Ambience Mall gate and CRPF deployed." No statement on the deployment of CRPF in the campus has been made by the JNU administration as of now.

In its latest orders, the JNU administration has massively hiked the hostel, mess and security fees reportedly by 400 per cent. It also limited the hostel timings, prompting the protests.