NEW DELHI: The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) on Tuesday strongly condemned the JNU administration’s decision to rusticate all four office bearers of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union, along with its former president, calling it an “unprecedented” assault on democratic rights on campus.
In a statement issued a day after the rustication orders were announced, the teachers’ body said the action was not merely directed against a few individual students but amounted to a direct attack on the collective democratic rights of the university’s student community. The administration has also imposed heavy fines on the students and declared the campus “out of bounds” for them for two semesters.
Linking the punitive action to the ongoing protests against the installation of facial recognition technology in the JNU library, the JNUTA said the decision reflected what it described as an “autocratic and lawless” style of functioning under Vice Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit. It alleged that disciplinary measures, particularly the imposition of hefty fines on protesting students, had become routine and were being used to criminalise dissent.
“The administration has assumed the role of judge, jury and executioner,” the association said, accusing it of vandalising the institution from within and eroding established norms of lawful and orderly functioning.
The statement also highlighted what it termed arbitrary decision-making affecting faculty members, citing concerns related to promotions, recruitment, housing allotments and leave approvals, along with broader policy issues such as admissions.
Delhi University students protest UGC Equity norms
Hundreds of students gathered at DU’s North Campus on Tuesday to protest the stay on the UGC Equity Regulations 2026 and demanded their immediate implementation under the Rohith Act.
The march, called the Equity March, was organised by AISA along with other democratic student groups.
Protesters marched across the campus raising slogans against caste-based discrimination. Many carried placards naming Dalit, Adivasi and OBC students who, they said, faced exclusion in higher education. The protesters demanded Union government intervention and warned of nationwide protests if the regulations are not restored.