New Delhi: The national secretary of the Congress-affiliated National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), Lokesh Chugh, and a law student were barred from the Delhi University for a year for allegedly helping in the campus screening of the BBC documentary on Godhra riots.
According to a March 10 memorandum reported by PTI first, the DU registrar had barred Chugh, who’s a doctorate student in the Anthropology department, and Ravinder from the Law Faculty. They will not be allowed to take part in “any university or college or departmental examination or examinations for one year from the date of issue of the memorandum”.
A DU official told PTI that six other students allegedly involved in the January 27 incident were given “less strict” punishment, indicating that more students might be implicated. However, she did not spell out the punishment given to the six students.
“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.
In the memorandum issued to the two students, the DU registrar claims that the BBC documentary India: The Modi Question is “banned”.
“…the act of participation in the showing of the banned BBC documentary is an act of indiscipline on the part of Lokesh Chugh,” stated the memorandum, a copy of which has been accessed by PTI.
After the documentary’s broadcast in January this year, the Narendra Modi-led government ordered YouTube and Twitter to remove video links. But student activists in several universities screened the documentary, despite authorities not giving them permission.
A ruling party spokesperson had claimed that the BBC is the “world’s most corrupt organisation”. Last month, the Delhi office of BBC was ‘surveyed” by Indian tax authorities for three days.
Also read: A Thread Binds the Modi Govt’s BBC Film Ban and Its Attacks on the Collegium and Constitution
The university had formed a seven-member committee to investigate the January 27 incident outside the Arts faculty building over the screening of the BBC documentary.
“On the basis of the recommendations of the committee, the disciplinary authority, taking cognisance of the above indiscipline exhibited by Shri 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 notice was issued to Ravinder.
Through his Twitter account, Chugh said that he had been declared guilty, even when the courts were still adjudicating the blocking of the BBC documentary, but that there was “no ban”.
देश में पहले सड़क पे फिर संसद में और अब विश्वविद्यालय में लोकतंत्र की हत्या होना आम होता जा रहा है
# वीडियो बैन नहीं ब्लॉक है
# कॉर्ट में केस है
# फ़ैसला अभी आया नहीं
पर मैं पहले ही अपराधी घोषित कर दिया गया और सज़ा भी मिल गई https://t.co/XwwOItpAx7Advertisement— Lokesh Chugh #BharatJodoYatra (@lokeshchugh09) March 17, 2023
Chugh, the national secretary of NSUI, said he was not present at the Arts faculty on the day of the incident and added that the documentary is not banned. “In a democracy, restricting students from appearing in exams is an unlawful & a condemnable act,” tweeted NSUI.
https://t.co/x6a16rOhIl
The debarring of NSUI National Sec. @lokeshchugh09 for objecting him for showing BBC documentary in DU campus is a clear eg. of dictatorship of the BJP govt.
In a democracy , restricting students from appearing in exams is an unlawful & a condemnable act.— NSUI (@nsui) March 17, 2023
