BBC Documentary Issue: Screening Banned Documentary Amounts To ‘Gross Indiscipline’, Says DU To HC

The Delhi University (DU) informed the Delhi High Court on Monday that students screening the banned BBC documentary on PM Narendra Modi without permission, and staging protests despite implementation of prohibitory orders amount to ‘gross indiscipline’.

The University stated that it took action against the students who organised the documentary screening based on newspaper reports which stated that the two-part series had been banned in India.

DU filed its reply to a petition filed by Lokesh Chugh, the Congress student wing leader, contesting his debartment from the university for allegedly organising a screening of the documentary.

Chugh is the National Students Union of India’s (NSUI) national secretary and a Ph.D. research scholar at DU’s Department of Anthropology.

Chugh was debarred from appearing in any university examination for a period of one year after a protest was organised at DU on January 27. It is alleged that during the protest, the BBC documentary titled India: The Modi Question was also screened for public viewing.

According to the university, Chugh was the mastermind behind the agitation, and video footage proves that he was actively involved in the screening of the documentary on campus.

It was claimed that their objective was to interrupt the academic operation of the University, and that this behaviour degraded the University’s image. Furthermore, the police implemented Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) on that date, despite the fact that students gathered to protest, the University stated.

“The Committee discovered that the mastermind of the agitation was the Petitioner after watching the videos. The committee observed that approximately 20 students gathered at 4:00 PM to display the BBC Documentary, and approximately 50 more students were present to view the aforementioned documentary,” it added.

Today, the case was assigned to Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav. The judge did, however, noted that DU’s response and Chugh’s counter are not on record.

As a result, the Court scheduled the case for further consideration on Wednesday. It asked both sides’ lawyers to file their written submissions by Tuesday.

In his petition, Chugh claims that he was not even present at the protests because he was at a media interaction at the time.

However, on February 16, DU issued a show cause notice to him, claiming that he was involved in a disturbance of law and order at the University during the screening. Following that, on March 10, a memorandum was issued debarring him.

Chugh has argued that the University passed the decision against him in breach of natural justice principles, and that the disciplinary body did not even inform him of the charges and findings against him.

As a result, the plea has requested that the memorandum be set aside and the notification that Chugh was involved in a disturbance of law and order be quashed. In the interim, he has requested a stay on the memorandum.