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Jindal law school Sonepat in lockdown amidst Haryana Jat riots, beefs up security

Jindal Global Law School (JGLS) Sonepat has battened down the hatches as a riot rages through local and nearby districts, caused by members of the Jat community seeking caste reservations and legal privileges.

The riots have resulted in the death of nine and spates of arson, with security personnel having moved in to attempt to quell the violence.

JGLS dean Raj Kumar told Legally India that the campus was not at immediate risk: “Of course Haryana has a number of challenges and Sonepat also has a curfew, but in the perimeter of the campus there’s no [riots].

“The district administration has been very cooperative,” he added, having “provided patrolling of security around the campus”.

“The epicentre of the protest is still Rohtak, which is pretty far away from Sonepat, but there have been sporadic incidents around sonipat as well. We are far away from Sonepat now, it is still much more remote.”

The college will remain closed tomorrow, as other state educational institutions will too in line with a Haryana government request for them to do so in light of the riots.

Students who were away from campus for the weekend have been asked not to return right now.

Registrar YSR Murthy added that two security agencies and male and female security guards were on campus 24/7, with a total complement of nearly 150 guards now. “We have also informed the state government to take care of the infrastructure.”

Update: Kumar and Murthy confirmed that an additional 30 to 35 security guards, on top of the usual number of around 110, had been allocated to the campus yesterday in reaction to the riots.

Kumar wrote the following email to students earlier this morning, appealing for reflection and intelligent debate around the riots:

Subject: Reading and reflecting about some of the critical issues that are confronting the contemporary Indian society

As you spend the weekend and tomorrow on campus or outside, it may be an appropriate moment for all of us to reflect on the issues that are confronting our society. The heart of these issues are about the kind of society that we want to build and how to respond to difficult questions of law, policy and governance. It is also about democratic governance and the need for a deeper and more fundamental recognition that democracy and rule of law are twin sides of the same coin.

We cannot selectively recognize the rule of law when it suits us, nor can we afford to selectively accept democracy for specific purpose. It ought to be a deeper sense of commitment to democratic values in all its manifestations, even when it is difficult. It is indeed saddening to note that there are significant threat to our democratic fabric and violence is increasingly resorted for achieving political or other ends. These are indeed difficult questions. While there are numerous issues relating to what happened or didn’t happen or should have happened at the campus of JNU, Patiala House and of course, the currently evolving agitation and violence in relation to the demands of reservation for a particular community, what is very clear is that we need to evolve a more mature and balanced political and social discourse while responding to these issues.

Most TV debates have been rather polemic, dogmatic, intellectually weak and of course, lacked the rigor and balance that is essential for understanding complex issues. I would like to encourage the JGU community to reflect on these issues in a more nuanced manner with a view to understanding these problems and challenges better. No amount of appeal to nationalism, patriotism, or for that matter other aspects of identity can substitute the need for a rigorous and thorough understanding of these issues in a threadbare manner. This is exactly what universities ought to be doing. It is less important to take particular sides on these issues, but more important to be able to understand as to what these issues really are; and what is at stake when we take any side.

Below, I am forwarding you a few interesting short articles that reflect different aspects of the issues that we are concerned about. I am sure there are many more writings on these issues, but I wanted to share with you a few shorter articles, particularly for the students so that you can get a sense of what these issues are and how you may consider thinking about them. You may agree with them, disagree with them but it is important to reflect about them!

Thanks and best regardsRaj

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