NEW DELHI: Faculty of Motilal Nehru College (Evening) kicked off an indefinite strike over alleged incidents of assault on teachers, hooliganism, trespassing and damage to public property during campaigning for the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections, a college teachers’ association said on Thursday.
The Staff Association said the protest will continue until its concerns are addressed.
Representatives of the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) and teachers from several other DU colleges joined the protest in solidarity, it said.
“The administration or police are not interested in taking any action. But this cannot continue, so we will be on indefinite strike till the incident is addressed,” a faculty member said.
“Until further notice, all teachers from the college have joined the strike and all academic activities have been suspended from our side,” the faculty member added.
The protest follows an incident on September 16, the day campaigning for the DUSU elections concluded, when a teacher at the college was allegedly assaulted by a student campaigning for the polls.
Faculty members had staged a protest at the college following the incident and demanded action against the student. A teacher had alleged that the faculty member was beaten and grievously injured.
The teachers had also said they would file an FIR and boycott election duties, stressing that faculty members could not be subjected to violence during the election process.
At the time, teachers said they were not immediately certain which student organisation the alleged campaigner was associated with.
Polling for the DUSU elections was held on September 18, while counting took place on September 19.
The Staff Association also called for the concerns over the alleged incidents to be addressed and sought support from teachers and other stakeholders.
Mithuraaj Dhusiya, elected member, executive council, DU said, “Enough is enough - first Bhim Rao Ambedkar College, then Faculty of Law and now Motilal Nehru College (Evening) - violence against teachers of DU is increasing. Delhi University administration needs to shed its dilly-dally approach and ensure strongest possible action against perpetrators of violence.”
Meanwhile Abha Dev Habib, DTF Secretary said, “The Principal reported that the College has made several attempts to get a FIR, however, the police have not registered it so far. This is despite the availability of CCTv footage. If true, this is yet another case of impunity to perpetrators. DU cannot be lost to violence.”
In this context, former member academic council, DU Rudrashish Chakraborty claimed that this incident is part of a series of assaults by students belonging to political organisations against teachers doing their duty.
“No action has been taken against any of the guilty till date: because they enjoy the impunity from the University administration and the ruling party at the centre,” he added.
