Bhopal's Journalism Varsity Revokes Expulsion of 23 Students who Protested Against Professors

Bhopal: A day after the matter of expulsion of 23 students from the Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication resonated in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly, the university administration revoked the expulsion of 20 students on Thursday.

The university had withdrawn the expulsion orders issued against three other students on Wednesday evening.

Meanwhile, the university on Thursday evening issued an order signed by Rector Shrikant Singh, which said that a special meeting of the disciplinary committee considered the letter of regret submitted by the students and decided to revoke the expulsion of 20 students, hailing from various departments of the university.

The varsity had on Tuesday released an expulsion order of students, who had been demonstrating for a week against alleged casteist remarks by two adjunct professors -- Dilip Mandal and Mukesh Kumar.

Last week, the students had staged a sit-in outside Vice Chancellor Dipak Tiwari’s chamber demanding action against the professors. However, the VC was out of station and the talks between administration and students failed, following which the protests were intensified.

In response, the police swung into action dragging down students from the upper floors and took them into custody. The police arrested 10 of the students while three others injured in the action were hospitalized. Names of more students were added in the FIR lodged by the police later.

The FIR named 25 students, charging them under various sections and on Tuesday late evening, on the recommendation of the disciplinary committee, the university expelled 23 students till further orders.

Former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and other BJP leaders had, on Wednesday, raised the issue in state assembly and questioned the action taken against the journalism students.

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh had called the protest an ABVP sponsored conspiracy, alleging that RSS was trying to capture the educational institutions in Madhya Pradesh.

Meanwhile, Bhopal Member of Parliament (MP) Pragya Singh Thakur had raised the issue with Vice Presdient Venkaiah Naidu a few days ago.