New Delhi: The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration on Friday informed the Supreme Court that it has not received any dossier allegedly depicting the varsity as a “den of organised sex racket”. A bench comprising justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia said the affidavit filed by the university states that on the basis of the records, which are maintained by the academic section of JNU, no dossier matching the description mentioned in the petition was either received or available on the record of the JNU. The court has scheduled the matter for further hearing on November 21.
The response from the JNU administration came on a plea filed by Professor Amita Singh challenging the Delhi High Court order setting aside the summons issued to the editor and deputy editor of online news portal ‘The Wire’ in a criminal defamation case over the publication of the dossier. Singh is a professor and chairperson of the Centre for Study of Law and Governance at the JNU, and she moved the apex court against the March 29 order of the High Court.
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Singh had lodged complaints against several people, including the editor and deputy editor of ‘The Wire’, for allegedly claiming in an April 2016 publication that she had prepared this dossier. The apex court on July 3, had noted Singh’s counsel submission that the name of the petitioner has come into a news item attributing that she was a signatory to a dossier submitted to the JNU administration. The counsel had said that she had nothing to do with any dossier, if at all submitted.
The apex court had asked JNU through its Vice-Chancellor to verify whether any dossier at all was submitted to the university while issuing notice on Singh’s plea. The editor and deputy editor of ‘The Wire’ had moved the High Court challenging the summoning order on the ground that there was no material on record on which the magistrate could have summoned them.
