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NUJS admin distances from IDIA-students beaten up by goons in contempt, won’t explain why

NUJS admin stresses, in so many words: We had nothing to do with students going out and fighting for human rights
NUJS admin stresses, in so many words: We had nothing to do with students going out and fighting for human rights

The NUJS Kolkata administration has distanced itself from the Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access (IDIA) initiative, following press reports of a brutal assault on NUJS students while they were leading an IDIA legal initiative to stop a construction proceeding in contempt of court.

Commenting on NUJS' stand on the molestation and brutal assault of its students by goons, in the aftermath of their confrontation with a government contractor, who had illegally demolished slums in violation of a Calcutta high court order obtained by IDIA, NUJS acting registrar Sarfaraz Ahmed Khan told us: “Our students are our students so on that respect we have taken all care. We went to police, we went to hospital, I was there with the students all night. But we are not IDIA.”

Khan declined to comment further when asked why the university was distancing itself from the students' initiative, just adding: “NUJS is not IDIA. IDIA is a separate entity.”

In a press release signed by Khan, which was released yesterday, the NUJS administration begins with the point that the students who were “involved in the incidents and were beaten up in the process did not have any prior approval from the WBNUJS authorities, neither did WBNUJS authorities had any prior knowledge of involvement of its students in the incident.”

The press release adds that the students involved in the incident were volunteers of IDIA - “initiative aimed at empowering underprivileged students through legal education towards making legal education in India more diverse, inclusive and impactful” - and had acted on their own in the high court and the events leading up to the proceedings.

The alleged assault was condemned by the NUJS student association, as well as a number of other student bodies, including NLSIU Bangalore's, Nalsar Hyderabad's, HNLU Raipur's and others.

Official NUJS admin statement

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