Questions on JNU “Anti-National” Saga That Govt Still Can’t Answer

It’s been two and a half years since 9 February 2016, but Delhi Police hasn’t even filed a chargesheet in the case.

Why has the JNU “anti-national” saga, on the incidents of 9 February 2016, not come to an end in all this time?

(Photo: Arnica Kala/The Quint)

Video Editor: Purnendu Pritam

Since 9 February 2016, Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and certain other JNU students have been branded as “anti-nationals”, “traitors” and the “tukde tukde gang” for allegedly raising “anti-national slogans” inside JNU. But how much truth is there to any of these allegations and why has this saga not come to an end in all this time?

I Have A Question for the Delhi Police

Six days after the incident, the then Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi confidently asserted that Kanhaiya Kumar had raised anti-national slogans on campus.

Why and how did the Commissioner pass a conclusive judgment even before the investigation was complete?

It’s been 2 years and 6 months since the evening of 9 February 2016, but the Delhi Police has not even been able to file a chargesheet in the case.

Within 6 days of the incident, Bassi had said, “It was because of the evidence we have collected so far that Kanhaiya Kumar has been arrested under charge of sedition.”

If within a week the Delhi Police had SO much evidence so as to arrest someone for sedition, why have they not been able to file a chargesheet in two and a half years?

I Have A Question for Home Minister Rajnath Singh

Home Minister Rajnath Singh with Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi.

On 13 February 2016, the Delhi Police fell for a parody account of Hafiz Saeed and tweeted about a link between JNU students and the Pakistani terrorist leader. The very next day, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh repeated the same claim.

Rajnath said, “We should understand this reality that Hafiz Saeed has supported this incident in JNU and it is extremely unfortunate.”

Was the Union Home Minister basing his statement on a tweet by a parody account?

In their cleanup act, a home ministry spokesperson said the “statements from the home minister are based on inputs available from different agencies”.

Again, it’s been 2 years and 6 months.

If there were really inputs available from different agencies that JNU students are linked to the Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani terror group, why have no concrete steps been taken? Why has there been no official investigation into this? Because if Rajnath Singh’s claim is true, then it is a serious national security threat, right? So why is the home minister not taking his own claim seriously and acting on it?

I Have A Question on the JNU Videos

Forensic investigation has revealed that at least two of the seven video clips cited as evidence by BJP leaders against the accused JNU students had been doctored. The footage was edited and voices were added.

What action has been taken by the police to nab the makers of these edited videos? Because making and spreading doctored videos, to falsely implicate people in a crime, is a crime itself. The Delhi Police should go look up the Indian Penal Code.

Zee News, the channel that “broke the JNU story”, had broadcast a video of students raising slogans with a text caption that said “Pakistan Zindabad”.

In their reportage on JNU, Zee News showed a text blurb saying “Pakistan zindabad”.

But a producer at the channel resigned after expressing his reservations over that story. Producer Vishwa Deepak, who had reviewed the footage before it went on air, said that the video was grainy, and there was a lot of sloganeering, most of which was not clearly audible.

The clip was shown to other colleagues but none were able to clearly make out the words being chanted. Here is what Deepak says happened after that. “Our editors came down and told us it was a big story, and that ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ could be heard. Because the audio was not clear, we added a bubble with ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ written in it to guide our viewers on what we felt was being chanted.”

Notice the line – “guide our viewers on what we FELT was being chanted.”

Why did Zee News run a programme targeting JNU students on the basis of a video clip which didn’t even have clear audio? That “news” was consumed by tens of thousands of viewers as the gospel truth.

I Have A Question for the JNU Administration

JNU VC Jagadesh Kumar.

The Delhi High Court had ordered the JNU administration to not take any coercive action against Umar Khalid till the next date of hearing on 16 August.

But the JNU administration decided to flout the high court order and initially refused to accept Khalid’s PhD submission.

Here’s another example of the JNU administration’s biased behaviour. JNU’s appellate authority held Kanhaiya Kumar guilty in their enquiry on the February 2016 incident. A fine of Rs 10,000 was imposed on Kanhaiya, and he wasn’t the only one punished. Hostel facilities were withdrawn for some, and others faced rustication for upto a semester.

But the Delhi High Court described JNU’s order as follows:

(It) suffers from the vice of illegality, irrationality and procedural impropriety.

Delhi High Court

That’s about as damning an observation that a university can get for mistreating its students.

So why exactly did the JNU administration conduct its probe against Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and co in a manner so blatantly unfair that the court called it illegal and irrational?

I Have A Question for the Propaganda Media

And finally, we come to certain sections of the mainstream media, specifically the propaganda media.

To the mainstream anchors who come out every other night at 9, and rant against Umar Khalid and Kanhaiya Kumar, referring to them and others critical of the government as the “tukde tukde gang”, “choor choor gang” and God knows what else, here are some questions.

For two and a half years, you have been disguising the spewing of propaganda as the moderation of panel discussions. But in all this time, neither your “news” channels nor the police has been able to produce sufficient evidence against these accused university students. Why is that?

Have your channels ever questioned the police for failing to even file a chargesheet in two and a half years? Have they ever held the JNU administration accountable for flouting the orders of the Delhi High Court?

And dear editors, if you still claim to be journalists, what sort of journalistic integrity allows you to brand a group of students as “anti-nationals” when even the investigation into their alleged crimes is not complete?

By branding them traitors and questioning their patriotism every other night on primetime, these anchors are encouraging a sentiment of aggressive disaffection against these individuals.

In February 2016, Kanhaiya Kumar was assaulted inside the premises of Delhi’s Patiala House Court – among those beating him up were advocates and BJP MLA OP Sharma.

On 13 August, an unidentified gunman fired a bullet outside the Constitution Club, moments after he had attacked Umar Khalid.

Trolls online celebrated the attack on Khalid, just like they had celebrated Kanhaiya being assaulted and Gauri Lankesh being murdered. But these trolls are just taking the language of our propaganda anchors one step further – our anchors cry “Traitor!”, the trolls say “Kill them!”

“Good”, “Jai Hind” and “Love you, bhai”: Comments in praise of the two men who claimed responsibility for the attack on Umar Khalid.

All of this without evidence, without the completion of an investigation, without even a police chargesheet. But the witch-hunt and name-calling continues, by ministers, by the JNU administration, by “news” anchors and by trolls and assaulters.

My question today is – if Umar Khalid was indeed assassinated for his political views on 13 August, won’t each of these individuals and institutions have been responsible in some way?