Kishangarh (Ajmer): Ten students from the Central University of Rajasthan (CURAJ) were suspended for two weeks as disciplinary action for allegedly disobeying the instructions of authorities and carrying out a late-night demonstration at undesignated sites. The students claimed that they were suspended for watching the banned BBC documentary 'India: The Modi Question' on January 26 on their mobile phones. The students residing in the university hostels were directed to vacate the hostels and the students spent their night in Jaipur. The maximum number of expelled students hail from Kerala and various cities in Rajasthan.
The students have been suspended from the academics as well as the hostel on Friday for disobeying the instructions of teachers or the authorities and demonstrating in late hours at places other than designated sites, the suspension order read. This action has been termed as disciplinary action by the university administration, but the suspended students alleged that they were suspended for watching the BBC documentary on their phones.
A video from the university campus has surfaced in which the right-wing supporter students are seen raising 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans. A student on the condition of anonymity said that the students watched the documentary till 8 pm and went to their rooms after a debate but during the documentary screening, no slogans were raised.
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Later, the university administration and police arrived on the spot. A lot of sloganeering also took place against the Centre's ban on the documentary, Pathak said. CURAJ authorities, however, said the action on the students has no connection with the screening of the documentary, calling it a routine disciplinary action against the students.
"The action wasn't taken over screening of the documentary. It was a normal, routine, disciplinary action taken against these students, which is a routine activity of an academic institution," a university official said, on condition of anonymity. On January 27, the university administration issued an order that it has decided to enforce a ban on the screening of the BBC documentary with immediate effect.
Any academic activity in which a gathering is required has to be cleared by the registrar with the recommendations of the dean and students' welfare. The university administration had also advised the students not to resort to sloganeering and loitering late at night on campus. However, the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), a non-profit organisation, in a statement said 10 students from different disciplines of the university were suspended for allegedly watching the documentary.
"Eight are Muslims, one Christian and one Hindu. The PUCL is clear that no screening of any film happened on January 26. And the question of individual viewing on mobiles is a private matter and comes within the right to privacy of the students," the organisation said in its statement. Calling the university's action "communally selective", PUCL, in a letter to CURAJ Vice-Chancellor Anand Bhalerao, said, "The students were never heard. No inquiry gave them a hearing and without the students being given a right to hearing and without being issued show cause notices, they were expelled for 15 days from the university and hostel."
