O P Jindal University has upheld the suspension of two students who were suspended for a semester and evicted from its housing for holding a campus discussion about Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. The students are permitted to enter the varsity only on August 1 this year. Hours after they were suspended, the two students alleged that they were “manhandled” and asked to “vacate their hostels in the middle of the night” on February 10 with a purported video showing one of them being dragged out of a hostel by security staff. The university has also asked the students and their parents to sign an undertaking by the Chief Proctor’s Office. The Indian Express reached out to the university but was denied a comment on the issue. The undertaking for parents asks them to “acknowledge and understand” that a “subsequent violation of the Rules and Regulations of the University” would empower it to take “increasingly stringent punitive actions” and may lead to their suspension, expulsion, or cancellation of admission. For the students, the under- taking requires them to “.Abstain from committing the same in- fraction that is the cause of action” in this instance and that they will be solely responsible for an increasingly harsher punishment” for “any subsequent infraction of a different or similar nature” and not to participate “in any activity.which has the tendency to disturb. peace and harmony”. Following action against them, the two students had written to the varsity on February 21, appealing against the decision made by the University Student Disciplinary Committee (USDC) to suspend them until August 1. Over a month after their suspension, they had turned to the Punjab & Haryana High Court; after the direction of the court granting 18 days to the varsity to respond to the students' appeals, it communicated on Monday. “.a total of four students were charged. All students responded to the SCN. two students (who were not the main perpetrators) were also able to attend the hearing, while the two students (who were the main perpetrators), including you, were not able to appear for the hearing.” the university stated. “.you have stated in your appeal that the statements made by you cannot be categorised as provocative or derogatory. However, the video posted on Instagram does not reflect this idea in any manner whatsoever,” it added. Speaking to The Indian Express, one of the suspended students said, “that they responded.the very day the court order required them to.is reflective of their hos- tile attitude towards the issue”. “We were violently thrown out of the university at 3 am in the night.An hour’s notice for a hearing on a Saturday is absolutely not a fair notice, ” the student added.
