[Reader-list] Jamia Millia University should be prosecuted

iram ghufran iram_ghufran at yahoo.co.in
Fri Sep 26 13:53:43 IST 2008


Apologies for x posting but this is a response by Sudhanva Deshpande to a similar email I sent on the MCRC alumni  group... 




----- Original Message ----
From: Sudhanva Deshpande <sudu26 at yahoo.co.uk>
To: mcrc_jamia_alumni at yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, 26 September, 2008 1:04:38 PM
Subject: Re: [mcrc_jamia_alumni] Jamia Millia University should be prosecuted


dear iram (and others),

just one more point, which i forgot to mention earlier. prof hasan's stand needs to be contrasted to the stand taken a couple of years ago by the VC of baroda university, when bajrang dal goons targetted the arts dept. one student, chandramohan, and the dean, shivji panikkar, were the victims of the hindu right, and the VC, far from defending the student or dean, simply went along with this victimisation. that's what i mean by the line of least offence. the dangers of such a line are evident: it can destroy careers, departments, or even threaten lives.

the challenge, then, is to create a larger sense of 'community' and 'engagement' where students, faculty and staff of a university are encouraged to participate in larger alliances that encompass not only their sectional interests (as students/faculty/ staff) but go beyond the university, to the neighbourhood, the city, and even beyond.

cheers,

sudhanva

* * * * *
Sudhanva Deshpande
LeftWord, 12 Rajendra Prasad Road, New Delhi 110001
Phones: 2335 9456, 2335 6966 (office), 2526 4822

----- Original Message ----
From: Sudhanva Deshpande <sudu26 at yahoo. co.uk>
To: mcrc_jamia_alumni@ yahoogroups. com
Sent: Friday, 26 September, 2008 11:33:59
Subject: Re: [mcrc_jamia_ alumni] Jamia Millia University should be prosecuted

dear iram,

thanks for your post. you have raised very important points. i'd like to respond to some of them.

1. the VC is well within his rights to promise legal aid. he has clarified that he will not use UGC funds, but the monies raised internally by the univ, through fees etc. this is neither unprecedented nor irregular. there are scores of such instances across the world. the hindu today has a good editorial on this, especially on the legal aspects.

2. you are right in saying that a student from manipur has as much claim to JMI as a student from zakir nagar. at any point that a manipuri student faces prosecution, one should use the current instance to mount pressure on the university to provide similar legal aid to the concerned student. in other words, one has to work towards expanding the university's sense of responsibility towards its students, rather than constricting it.

3. you are also right in asking the obvious question: what if the student/s are found guilty? the answer is obvious too: they must be punished according to the law of the land. but what is the law of the land, and how is that to be used to determine guilt as well as the quantum of punishment? these are not black and white, given entities. vigorous defence of the accused is aimed at ensuring that there is no miscarriage of justice -- for instance, that people who are not guilty are punished, or a guilty person is meted punishment that is not in consonance with the guilt. anyone who has even a passing acquaintance with the way indian courts work, will know that both are very real possibilities. some sections are convinced that this is a fake encounter. frankly, i prefer to remain a sceptic on this question. one has seen too many police theories being blown to bits, not to mention staged encounters and suchlike. on the other hand, the blasts were not
imaginary and someone carried them out.

4. however, if they are proved guilty, that does not tarnish the entire university just as much as it does not tarnish the entire community. it is precisely such easy association that the hindu right, for instance, wishes to establish, and which has to be contested.

5. while JMI is a national university and belongs to all of india, it is also located physically in a certain city, and in a certain area within that city. this dialectic -- national identity, local presence -- is something all institutions have to negotiate. i used to teach at the national institute of design in ahmedabad, and one of the points of critique many of us had with the institution was that it did very little to engage with the city and the locality of paldi where it is located. in times of stress, as during the dec 92 riots, when we were holed up in curfew for nearly a month, this lack of engagement became painfully evident.

6. while this instance should be used as a precedence to enlarge the university's sense of responsibility towards its students, this does not, and must not mean that we should expect or argue for the university providing legal aid to every student facing any kind of prosecution. if suppose sanjiv nanda (or whatever the BMW guy's name is) were a student of JMI, there would be absolutely no justification for the university to provide him with legal aid. at the same time, if, say, a poor dalit student is the victim of
casteist violence, she must be provided all legal (and other) help by
the university. in other words, all such cases, in my view, require sensitivity to context and circumstance. it is not, and cannot be, a simple application of a rule. it requires the university, in particular the VC, to exercise discretion.

for sure, such decisions are never easy to take, and it is always convinient for those in authority to take the line of least offence. for once, a university administration has acted boldly and sensitively. for having done so, the VC is now also the target of attack from the hindu right. i think he needs to be defended in these circumstances -- even if we might have questions or doubts about this or that aspect of his decision. i am sure you will not see my defence of the VC's action as a defence of one individual, but rather of a larger principle.

cheers,

sudhanva

* * * * *
Sudhanva Deshpande
LeftWord, 12 Rajendra Prasad Road, New Delhi 110001
Phones: 2335 9456, 2335 6966 (office), 2526 4822

----- Original Message ----
From: iram ghufran <iram_ghufran@ yahoo.co. in>
To: mcrc_jamia_alumni@ yahoogroups. com
Cc: iram.ghufran@ gmail.com
Sent: Friday, 26 September, 2008 2:13:48
Subject: Re: [mcrc_jamia_ alumni] Jamia Millia University should be prosecuted

Dear Yousuf, all

This mail has been sent on various forums (with slight variation). So please excuse the x posting.

I have been trying to understand my discomfort with the University decision to provide legal aid to its students - Mohammad Shakeel and Zia-ur -Rehman, arrested on charges of terrorist and anti national activities. Below are some thoughts - formed and tentative but let me begin with a question - Who else benefits from this 'show of support' (besides the two boys)?

And before I go further, let me say very categorically that like many others on this forum and elsewhere, I believe there needs to be a judicial inquiry in the Batla House encounter, attempts should be made to ensure that the students do not remain in police custody longer than necessary and that pressure should be built to ensure that they are treated with dignity in police custody.

Let me raise another question along the lines of the first: What choices did Mushirul Hasan, Vice Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia have in terms of 'show of support' to his students?

In his address to the student body and later at a press conference, Mushirul Hasan, VC of Jamia Millia Islamia stated that the University would provide legal aid to the arrested students, from the Student Welfare Fund. I feel that the Vice Chancellor, should not have promised this. He can provide legal aid in a personal capacity, as part of a citizens collective but NOT as Vice Chancellor ON BEHALF of the University. 

Before I go into my reasons for saying this, let me add that my argument is based on the premise that the term 'legal aid' implies monetary help to fund a court case - specially for people who would otherwise not have a fair legal representation. 

The VC cited an earlier incident when armed policemen forcibly entered the SRK boys hostel, beat up and took in custody many students. He is using this as a precedent for Jamia to support the two students on issue under discussion. For a PUCL report on the previos episode, see - http://www.pucl. org/reports/ Delhi/delhi- jamia.htm
The aforementioned incident happened on campus. The students were mistreated within the University compound, under the 'guardianship' of the VC, the Proctor, the Registrar, and the hostel Warden. The University administration, responsible for the welfare of the students residing on campus was unable to prevent this unfair police action. 

The Butla House encounter and arrests are a different issue. Here the charges on the students have nothing to do with their academic life (they allegedly did not blow up the chemistry lab in a failed experiment), nor their non- academic university life (they did not injure spectators in a inter university football championship) . They were certainly not representing Jamia Millia Islamia or the University ideals of universal brotherhood, peace and secularism in the act that they have been accused of committing (falsely or not). I am not sure if the University is responsible for student activities outside the campus...

My question is that if for example, the University has two thousand students on its rolls, and even two percent of them get involved in some form of litigation, will Jamia Millia be willing to support 40 cases a year - cases that may drag on, beyond the academic term of the enrolled student? Will the University provide 'legal aid' to students accused of other 'anti State', 'anti national' activities (such as aiding militants in the north East, Kashmir, maoists in Orissa, Chattisgarh) ?

If a University believes itself to be the guardian of its students and in that capacity provides legal aid, then there have to be norms laid down - Which cases will get primacy? Who will decide which particular student should be legally supported and which student should be left to his or her own devices? The University also has to take into account the thousands of other students and its responsibility to them. By making Jamia Millia Islamia, an interested party in this 'case', the VC has dragged not only the University, faculty, staff, students into this unfortunate series of events but has put at stake the Universitys reputation. Does the VC have a plan of action, in case the arrested students are implicated on charges of terrorism? Will the logic of 'innocent until proven guilty' help the rest of the students adjust to a world that will see them as 'supporters' of 'terrorists' . It will 'not be the end of the story' but perhaps the beginning of  a
more gruesome one. Even if one of these students is sentenced to even one year of jail for aiding/ abetting an anti national act, it is not just an individual who will lose face, it is not a team of lawyers, activists, supports who will lose face, it will be the institution which lays claim to being the 'liberal' face of the Indian muslim. Has the VC calculated the implications of this?

I feel that an autonomous body (perhaps with University support - Jamia, JNU and DU) should be set up - that provides legal aid and counseling to students. The Universities can provide financial support to such a body, the students can contribute and raise independent funding. This is a tentative proposition which has had precedent in various forms of Committees for Defense for people accused of 'crimes' against the 'State'.

I understand that a strong political statement was the need of the hour. But was a commitment to legal aid the only option? Still thinking...

Warm regards
Iram

PS: Regarding the Jamia neighbourhood, the VC stated that the boys are being supported because they are students of Jamia Millia and not because they are residents of a particular area. Jamia is a central university and students from all over the country and abroad are enrolled here. A student from Manipur (with her concerns regarding AFSPA) has as much claim to Jamia as a student from Zakir Nagar (with her concerns regarding representation of her community). I dont feel comfortable with linking the 'destinies' of the neighbourhood (with Zakir Nagar, Batla House, Joga Bai, Shaheen Bagh, Hari Kothi, and more of Okhla) with the University (with UP, Bihar, Assam, Orissa, Kazakhastan, Iran etc). Yousuf, I share your concerns about the neighbourhood in all its complexities (migration, land mafia, media misrepresentation) but somehow I dont understand why Jamia is treated like a 'mohalle ka University'. I'm still trying to gather my thoughts on this and
perhaps we could discuss them at a later stage.

============ ========= ========= =

----- Original Message ----
From: Yousuf <ysaeed7 at yahoo. com>
To: radhikarajen@ vsnl.net; reader-list@ sarai.net; srirang jha <jha.srirang@ gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, 24 September, 2008 9:48:10 PM
Subject: [mcrc_jamia_ alumni] Re: [Reader-list] Jamia Millia University should be prosecuted

Dear Srirang Jha

Your statement: "why an intellectual like Mushirul Hasan would indulge in such a pastime" I think this is precisely the problem here. Most social problems in our midst crop up because the intellectuals don't want to come down to "such pastimes". I think its a great step (although risky) for Mushirul Hasan to take a stand here. He said that as VC he is the guardian of all students, and will help them legally UNTIL PROVED GUILTY. It is very easy otherwise to allow the law to take its own course. Many thousands of accused (depending on state's legal aid) are languishing in our jails, not proven guilty yet. IF these boys are proven guilty, then of course, the end of the story.

But besides that, it also very important for Jamia to make a social intervention into its neighbourhood. Would you rather ignore the area and the community and allow more disturbing elements to thrive there, or take a bold risk and try to eliminate them. The terror cannot be eradicated until many elements/institutio ns of the society (university, local leaders, RWAs, police, NGOs, and activists) don't come together. Unfortunately, so far there is very little trust between all these elements. Moreover, we are also trying to prove that the NGOs and activists are actually the enemies of the state.

Only the brutal force of the police can never eradicate terrorism.

Yousuf

--- On Wed, 9/24/08, srirang jha <jha.srirang@ gmail.com> wrote:

> From: srirang jha <jha.srirang@ gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Jamia Millia University should be prosecuted
> To: radhikarajen@ vsnl.net, reader-list@ sarai.net
> Date: Wednesday, September 24, 2008, 9:23 PM
> Jamia Millia Islamia is setting a wrong example by providing
> legal aid to
> the accused in Delhi bomb blast. The University exists for
> education and
> nothing else. Our constitution provides for legal
> assistance to any one who
> cannot afford a lawyer. So the students of JMI who are
> arrested for their
> alleged role in the Blast may get legal assistance from the
> Legal Aid Cell
> of the Supreme Court of India.
> I do not understand why an intellectual like Mushirul Hasan
> would indulge in
> such a pastime as this. Let the law of the land take its
> course.
> 
> Srirang Jha
> 
> On Wed, Sep 24, 2008 at 6:44 PM,
> <radhikarajen@ vsnl.net> wrote:
> 
> > Unfortunately, this attitude and action of the
> institutions and NGOs which
> > makes them communal. It only gives more courage to be
> fundamentalists in
> > secular society be it for a hindu or a muslim or a
> christian, if you have
> > support to be fanatic why not. !
> >
> > Regards.
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Aditya Raj Kaul <kauladityaraj@ gmail.com>
> > Date: Wednesday, September 24, 2008 12:55 am
> > Subject: [Reader-list] Jamia Millia University should
> be prosecuted
> > To: sarai list <reader-list@ sarai.net>
> >
> > > Jamia Millia University should be
> > >
> prosecuted<http://offstumped. nationalinterest .in/2008/ 09/23/jamia-
> > > millia-university- should-be- prosecuted/ >
> > >
> > > *The Jamia Millia Islamia University would
> provide legal aid to two
> > > suspended students who have been arrested by
> Delhi Police for being
> > > allegedly involved in the serial blasts in the
> > >
> capital<http://offstumped. nationalinterest .in/2008/ 09/19/war- on-
> > > terror-offstumped- salute-to- indias-pride/ >.
> > > *
> > >
> > > **
> > >
> > > *"Legal aid would be provided till they are
> not found guilty," varsity
> > > spokesperson Rakshanda Jaleel on Tuesday said.*
> > >
> > > Offstumped has unearthed the Jamia Millia Islamia
> Act of
> > >
> 1988<http://education. nic.in/cd50years /x/7H/8M/ 7H8M0101. htm>
> > > .
> > >
> > > There is no provision within this act for the
> University to
> > > provide legal
> > > aid to students, period, forget personal or
> university related,
> > > guilty or
> > > not guilty.
> > >
> > > Its powers are very clear.
> > >
> > > Please visit the following link for more -
> > > Jamia Millia University should be
> > >
> prosecuted<http://offstumped. nationalinterest .in/2008/ 09/23/jamia-
> > > millia-university- should-be- prosecuted/ >
> > >
> > > PTI reports
> > >
> > > *The Jamia Millia Islamia University would
> provide legal aid to two
> > > suspended students who have been arrested by
> Delhi Police for being
> > > allegedly involved in the serial blasts in the
> > >
> capital<http://offstumped. nationalinterest .in/2008/ 09/19/war- on-
> > > terror-offstumped- salute-to- indias-pride/ >.
> > > *
> > >
> > > **
> > >
> > > *"Legal aid would be provided till they are
> not found guilty," varsity
> > > spokesperson Rakshanda Jaleel on Tuesday said.*
> > >
> > > Offstumped has unearthed the Jamia Millia Islamia
> Act of
> > >
> 1988<http://education. nic.in/cd50years /x/7H/8M/ 7H8M0101. htm>
> > > .
> > >
> > > There is no provision within this act for the
> University to
> > > provide legal
> > > aid to students, period, forget personal or
> university related,
> > > guilty or
> > > not guilty.
> > >
> > > Its powers are very clear. -
> > > Jamia Millia University should be
> > >
> prosecuted<http://offstumped. nationalinterest .in/2008/ 09/23/jamia-
> > > millia-university- should-be- prosecuted/ >
> > >

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