JGLS Sonepat has asked two of its third-year law students to explain why they should not be suspended or expelled from the law school, after the Indian Express reported that they had been arrested by the Haryana police on Sunday for allegedly possessing nearly 1 kg of hashish, with a reported street value of around Rs 1.3 lakh.

JGLS said in a statement:

Four JGU students had gone out of campus on 21st September after obtaining a valid out-pass with permission of their parents. While returning from Chandigarh, their car was intercepted on the National Highway by Law enforcement agency on 24th September and some prohibited material was recovered from their possession.

An FIR was lodged yesterday at Murthal Police Station, Sonipat District under the NDPS Act.

The O. P. Jindal Global University has a zero tolerance policy for the acts of physical violence, sexual harassment, ragging, hacking, racial discrimination and use of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.

The university said in a statement that following the incident, it had taken stringent security measures to keep contraband out of the campus, including x-ray machines and body searches, as we had reported in 2014:

To tackle the use of prohibited substances, JGU has taken following steps:

1. An X-Ray machine has been installed at the main-gate of the University to scan bags.

2. Students are frisked at the gate before they enter the campus.

3. All vendors and their employees go through a detailed security check.

4. A policy has been implemented not to allow visitors’ vehicles to enter the JGU campus.

5. Room checks and student welfare Interventions (SWIs) are conducted frequently by wardens. In the past, whenever there is any instance of serious violation of Student Code of Conduct, JGU has taken stringent action against students ranging from suspension to expulsion.

6. Peer Education Groups and counsellors have been working to sensitize students on several issues including the above.

JGLS told us today that two of the four arrested JGU students were from the third year of its five-year LLB program, while the remaining two students were from its liberal arts courses.

According to the Express report:

The Haryana Police Sunday arrested four students of Sonepat’s OP Jindal Global University for allegedly bringing charas from Kullu town in Himachal Pradesh to “supply” at the university. The police seized nearly 1 kg of charas, valued at nearly Rs 1.33 lakh in the international market, from them.

A police team had intercepted and checked their “Tata Innova” (sic) on a national highway on a tip-off, after which they were produced before a court and remanded to three days in police custody, according to the Express. They reportedly admitted that they intended to sell the Hashish at JGU and an FIR was registered against them under the NDPS Act 1985.

Albeit illegal, the consumption of cannabis on law school campuses is not very unusual, though the relatively large quantity in alleged possession of the students probably is. For instance, as we had reported earlier this month, the GNLU Gandhinagar registrar having embarked on a fishing expedition for the owner of a bag of cannabis ;; by searching phones and impersonating one student on WhatsApp in a bid to find out more.

In other recent JGLS-related news, the administration condemned the a Punjab & Haryana high court order freeing three JGLS students from their 20- and 7-year jail sentences for rape. The sentences had been suspended by the court pending their appeals against conviction, in a heavily criticised judgment that is coloured with victim blaming.

Photo by Khalid Mahmood.