Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has refused the use of an auditorium in one of its schools that had been booked for a discussion on Umar Khalid’s book citing “non-disclosure of the full facts” about the program.
Umar Khalid has been held in jail without trial on charges under UAPA for almost six years now. His PhD thesis was published this June as a book titled ‘Fractured Communities: Adivasi Histories and the Politics of Power’.
The cancellation of the booking was communicated in a letter from the School of Social Sciences (SSS) on Sunday, a day before the event, which was scheduled at the SSS-I Auditorium on campus from 3 pm to 6 pm on August 10.
In a post on X, the university said JNU was a “democratic and decentralised institution”, and that permission for the event had been granted by the Dean of the School of Social Sciences, who had also “taken action” to cancel it.
“The booking of the auditorium SSS-1 stands cancelled because of non-disclosure of the full facts about the program which is going to take place on 10th August 2026 from 3 pm to 6 pm,” the university said in the post.
Like several other posts on JNU’s official X handle, this post too tagged the Vice-President of India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Office of the Home Minister of India, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Union Education Minister Pralhad Joshi and the Ministry of Education.
The event, organised by the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU), was billed as a discussion to mark The International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.
The event poster listed Delhi University professor Prabhu Mohapatra, historian Prof Uma Chakravarti, artist Shuddhabrata Sengupta, author and activist Harsh Mander, and Umar Khalid’s partner Banojyotsna Lahiri as speakers.
Official sources at JNU told The Indian Express that the school had earlier allowed the event in “good faith” after students approached the administration to book the auditorium for a program to mark International Indigenous Peoples Day, which was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1994, and is observed on August 9 every year.
However, the sources claimed, the students had not disclosed that the event would feature a discussion around Umar Khalid or his book.
“This is a breach of trust, and the university’s concern is that a matter involving Umar Khalid cannot be discussed at an official university platform while his matter is sub judice,” an official source said.
This source said that “the students should have submitted the pamphlet or details of the program before seeking permission”. According to the source, JNU had not “prohibited the program”, but had advised that it not be “promoted like this”, or organised using the university’s platform.
The organisers of the programme, however, disputed the university’s explanation for cancelling the booking, and said the book discussion would be held regardless of whether the auditorium was available.
JNUSU president Aditi Mishra told The Indian Express that all the required procedures had been followed.
“All the processes were followed to hold discussions on the book. We had approached the Dean of our school (SSS). We made a payment of over 500 rupees to book the auditorium. But we had been getting calls since yesterday to not hold this event. And today (Sunday) we got this notice. The event will happen outside of SSS at the same time tomorrow (Monday) even if they don’t give us the auditorium,” Mishra said.
Avinash Kumar, JNUTA Secretary and an assistant professor at SSS whose name appeared on the request for booking the auditorium, told The Indian Express: “I want to make it clear that the stated reason for the cancellation of the booking of the SSS auditorium is false. The Dean, School of Social Sciences, was fully informed that the event was going to discuss Umar Khalid’s book ‘Fractured Communities’.
“The JNUSU before reaching out to me had already met and spoken to the Dean and the requisition form was filled as per his advice. So there is no question of lack of full disclosure. And if the full disclosure was not made, then why was permission for the auditorium booking approved and granted in the first place?”
Prof Kumar, who is also an office-bearer of the JNU Teachers’ Association (JNUTA), said the administration should “come clean” on the real reason for the cancellation of the booking.
“Why can’t they permit a discussion on this book in the SSS auditorium? Isn’t this book based on the PhD thesis submitted by Dr Umar Khalid at CHS/ SSS/ JNU, and was he not granted a PhD degree by JNU for that thesis? The book has been published by a leading publisher (Juggernaut) and there is no reason why a book discussion cannot be held,” he said.
“Instead of making false claims and hollow statements about democracy, the administration should declare under which rule of the university they have unilaterally cancelled without any consultation at any level the venue for the event,” he said.
In a statement issued on Sunday, JNUTA said, “The JNU Students’ Union has already clarified that the Dean was fully informed about the event and the booking of the venue was done as per his advice.”
The Indian Express contacted the Dean of the School of Social Sciences, Prof Vivek Kumar, who declined to comment.
The event poster listed Delhi University professor Prabhu Mohapatra, historian Prof Uma Chakravarti, artist Shuddhabrata Sengupta, author and activist Harsh Mander, and Umar Khalid’s partner Banojyotsna Lahiri as speakers. (File image) 
Share
