Delhi University has barred two students, including a Congress students’ wing leader, for a year for allegedly participating in a screening of the BBC documentary on the Godhra riots on campus, a senior official said.
During this period, the students will not be allowed to take any university or college or departmental examination, according to the memorandum dated March 10.
Six other students allegedly involved in the January 27 incident have been given “less strict” punishment, the official said, while indicating that more students might be implicated.
“We have debarred two students and six students have been given less strict punishment. We have also called the parents of several students. More action is expected in the coming days,” the official said.
She did not say what punishment the other six students received.
The national secretary of the congress-affiliated National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) Lokesh Chugh, a PhD scholar in the anthropology department and Ravinder of the law faculty students have been barred. Chugh said that he was not present at the arts faculty on the day of the incident and added that the documentary is not banned.
The “confidential” memorandum issued to them mentioned that the documentary — India: The Modi Question — is “banned”.
“On the basis of the recommendations of the committee, the disciplinary authority taking cognisance of the above indiscipline exhibited by Lokesh Chugh, decided to impose the penalty of debarring him from taking any university or college or departmental examination or examinations for one year,” the memorandum read.
A similar memorandum has been issued to Ravinder, the official said.
The university had formed a seven-member committee to probe the ruckus outside the arts faculty building over the screening of the BBC documentary.
A ruckus erupted at the university as students attempted to screen the documentary even as police and the varsity administration intervened.
The police had detained 24 NSUI-affiliated students during its efforts to scuttle the screening.
Chugh, however, said he was not among the 24 students.
“During the screening, I was not on campus. I was participating in a TV debate Moreover, the documentary is not banned but blocked,” he said.
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