Afzal Guru row: Student alleges JNU denied her fellowship
JNU student Shweta Raj, who was among those suspended for over a month in connection with the controversial Afzal Guru event, on Friday alleged that the university has denied her fellowship claiming she is under suspension.
A Jawaharlal Nehru University student, who was among the eight students debarred for a month for their role in the controversial event on Afzal Guru, has alleged her fellowship was denied by the university on grounds that she is still suspended.
Shweta Raj, a PhD student at Centre for Indian Languages, alleged she was told by university officials that her fellowship amount could not be given to her as she was suspended. She said her suspension was revoked last month.
Raj and seven others were debarred from academic activities pending an inquiry in connection with an event on 2001 Parliament attack Afzal Guru organised on the campus on February 9. Anti-national slogans were allegedly raised in the event.
“The administration refused to grant my contingency fellowship for the last semester which was from July 2015-January 2016. They said they had no information on my suspension being revoked and hence couldn’t release my fellowship,” Raj said.
The university revoked the suspension on March 11 after a high-level inquiry committee, probing the incident, submitted its report. The university is yet to announce punishment for students based on the recommendation of the committee.
She also said that there were no grounds to deny her fellowship as it was for a period much before the February 9 incident happened.
Raj said the university made a public announcement that their suspension was revoked. “We were debarred from academic activities till the completion of the high-level inquiry committee report. We were allowed to join academic activities after the committee submitted its report,” she said.
University officials refused to comment on the issue and only said they would have to check the application of the student.
Three students, Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, were arrested in a sedition case over the event. They are now out on bail.