NEW DELHI: The indefinite hunger strike by Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students’ against the unresponsive attitude of the administration over their charter of demands, entered its eighth day on Monday with two students participating in the demonstration on campus admitted to AIIMS after falling ill, they reportedly refused treatment to continue their protest.
The JNU Health Centre referred the students to AIIMS after their health deteriorated due to the hunger strike.
Fouzia Firdous Ozair, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of JNU said, “The two students have signed a document of leave against medical advice and refused to get treatment. We had referred them to AIIMS after accessing their condition.”
Meanwhile JNU Vice-chancellor (V-C) Santishree D Pandit said, “They (protesters) have taken responsibility and refused treatment and signed the leave against medical advice document. The JNU administration has informed their parents that, as adults, they have refused medical treatment. The students who have been paying Rs 10-20 for the amenities provided by the university are demanding MCM (merit-cum-means) scholarships to be increased to Rs 2,000; this is not reasonable.”
The protesting students of JNU have been demanding an increase in the MCM scholarship to at least Rs 5,000, opening of Barak Hostel, which has remained non-operational since its inauguration in February, and the revocation of the Chief Proctor’s Office manual which penalises protests on campus with fines up to Rs 20,000.
The students demands also include reinstatement of the Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH), and the withdrawal of proctorial inquiries initiated against students “who were protesting for water and gender justice issues.”