Don't sully JNU image by flouting distancing norms: Admin slams teachers for anti-CAA protest

The Jawaharlal Nehru University Friday appealed to its teachers "not to sully the image of the university by violating COVID-19 guidelines", two days after some of them held a protest on the campus against the CAA and expressed solidarity with arrested students. The JNU Teachers' Association (JNUTA), however, said they did not flout any rule and followed social-distancing norms.

They also backed student bodies across India that staged a virtual and symbolic protest against the arrest of Jamia Millia Islamia and JNU students in connection with the northeast Delhi communal violence and over earlier protests against the CAA. Registrar Pramod Kumar Friday said the university administration noticed that a few faculty members held a protest on the campus against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) on June 3. "While right to protest is well-recognised and respected, violating COVID-19 guidelines…sets a wrong example, particularly when it is staged by intellectuals of a prestigious university, such as JNU.

"The protesting faculty members are requested not to sully the image of the university by violating the COVID-19 guidelines when the nation is working hard to contain the spread of coronavirus," he said. The Federation of Central Universities Teachers' Associations (FEDCUTA) had expressed solidarity with the protest, JNUTA secretary Surajit Majumdar said.

The JNUTA is a member of the FEDCUTA. Some faculty members had gathered on the campus to protest but they followed social-distancing norms and did not flout any rules, Majumdar said.

He said some teachers protested from their homes holding placards, while a few gathered. "It is ridiculous to say people shouldn't protest because of COVID-19 when unjust arrests are being made in the midst of the pandemic. The image of the university will only be sullied if the University community is silent with regard to the injustice seen all around," Majumdar told PTI.