The Delhi High Court today dismissed a petition seeking an order for an inquiry by the National Investigation Agency into student protests in Jawaharlal Nehru University.
The High Court dismissed the plea after noting that the Delhi Police’s inquiry cannot be faulted so soon and it cannot be assumed that the Delhi Police is incompetent to handle the case.
The JNU had seen a ‘memorial function’ on the day of the hanging of Afzal Guru, who was convicted by the Supreme Court on charges of waging war against the Indian state.
Guru was accused of providing logistical support for a group of people who attacked the Indian Parliament in December 2001.
The police had used electronic records, including details of his phone calls, to prove their case. Guru’s execution created a lot of unrest in Kashmir, the region from which he hailed. Some activists, including those who advocate the rights of Kashmiris for seceding from India, have opposed the hanging.
Among the opponents was international human rights organization Amnesty, as well as several far-left organizations such as CPI(M-L). Students from Kashmir, studying at Jawaharlal Nehru University, had also protested in Delhi after the hanging.
The current imbroglio started after students at JNU chanted slogans like “Afzal, your killers are still at large” and so on at the JNU campus on Feb 9, the day on which he was executed. JNU, being a ‘national university’ tends to have students from all the states of India, including Kashmir.
The central government, led by the BJP, arrested the JNU students’ union president alleging that it has proof that he was involved in seditious activities. The home minister has also said that the protest was carried out with the support of Pakistan-based terrorists.
Journalists who tried to enter the court room in which the students’ union president was being produced were thrown out by a group of people and some were also reportedly assaulted.
The BJP is currently in negotiations with People’s Democratic Party of Jammu & Kashmir to form a coalition government in the state.