The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration has identified four Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) members as being involved in a "scuffle" with Najeeb Ahmad, who has been missing since 15 October.
On Thursday, almost after two months since Najeeb went missing, the JNU administration submitted the report of its proctorial inquiry into the Mahi-Mandvi incident.
As a punishment, the administration has ordered the transfer of hostels of the four students-Vikrant, Ankit Rai, Aishwarya Pratap Singh and Vijendra Thakur. The students will now be required to change their hostels.
The students who had earlier been issued show cause notices after they were found guilty of "hitting" Najeeb, were also issued a warning so that they don’t repeat the offence.
The transfer order has to be followed with immediate effect. However, the university is yet to allocate the students alternate accommodation.
The order has, however, created a furore among the students. Unhappy with the order, a lot of students questioned the intention behind it. They even raised questions about the word “scuffle,” when it was clearly much more than that.
Najeeb’s family and JNUSU attacked the decision calling it “no punishment at all”.
“We are sure that the VC got the report changed forcibly to shield ABVP activists. Many important points have been changed. This order shows that ABVP activists can get away with nearly lynching somebody with only the mildest punishment," JNUSU president Mohit Kumar Pandey told The Times of India.
Najeeb has been missing for over 50 days now. On the night of 14 October, the aforementioned students were involved in a brawl with Najeeb during one of their door-to-door campaigning sessions.
(With inputs from The Indian Express and The Times of India)
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