Over a month after she alleged she was sexually harassed on campus by a few students and launched an indefinite strike near the main gate against “inaction” by the Chief Proctor, a Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student received a notice from the varsity for “obstructing” the entrance to JNU and “causing difficulties for students and staff”. The notice also called her activity “dangerous”.

In its show cause notice to the student dated May 24, the Proctor office said, “In the proctorial enquiry, you… were found to be involved in obstructing North Gate (entrance)… causing difficulties for students, residents, staff, senior citizens, differently abled persons, school children… and screening a movie without prior permission from the competent authority on April 5, 2024, at North Gate… This kind of activity is dangerous and falls under… ‘Disrupting/ blocking normal movement of person(s) or traffic in the premises of the university. Blockade or forceful prevention of any normal movement of security and safety rules notified by university’.” The student was asked to respond by May 29.

The incident took place on March 31 when a car with a few individuals stopped on the JNU Ring Road and allegedly hurled derogatory slogans at the student.

When asked for comment, Internal Complaints Committee Presiding officer Vandana Mishra told The Indian Express: “All information regarding cases in ICC are strictly confidential.”

Speaking to The Indian Express, JNU V-C Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit said, “As per the Chief Proctor’s rules passed by the EC (Executive Council) and upheld by courts, we have fined and issued a show cause notice to the student for blocking the North Gate, which is the main gate of the university. There is a designated space to hold protests near Sabarmati.”

The complainant said: “I’ve responded to this notice… I received two proctorial inquiries and a show cause notice from the chief proctor’s office; this shows the administration is not punishing culprits, they are punishing the survivors and her friends who were demanding justice; they are punishing me as they don’t want any other survivor to speak out loud…”

Calls and messages by The Indian Express to Chief Proctor Sudhir Kumar Arya did not receive any response.

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