A First Information Report was filed against members of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union on Sunday after the administration complained to the police that they had removed a CCTV camera installed in a hostel. The students had been protesting against what they said was uncalled for surveillance by the university authorities in the Brahmaputra hostel on Friday, though the university’s Registrar Pramod Kumar called their behaviour “unacceptable”.

The Vasant Kunj Police said the FIR was filed against JNUSU President Mohit Pandey, Vice President Satrupa Chakravarty and several other members of the union, Hindustan Times reported. They were charged with theft, assault and causing damage.

Chakraborty, in a statement, said the administration had been “shamelessly violating all the institutional procedures of JNU” in the past few months by a pushing for a number of FIRs against the students and taking action against faculty members who supported them. Chakraborty claimed that the decision to install the CCTV camera in the hostel was not discussed with all the hostel wardens or residents, and students were misled into believing that the wiring work was being done to set up WiFi on campus.

“A university which is known for taking up its collective responsibility and ensuring safety for each other, extending mutual respect as and when there is an incident in the campus, doesn’t need any surveillance measure,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, which is routinely in conflict with the JNUSU, said the Delhi High Court had seen the installation of CCTV cameras at the university as an essential security measure, especially since the disappearance of MPhil student Najeeb Ahmed. The ABVP claimed the JNUSU president’s behaviour was “harmful” and suggested that students were trying to conceal “the free use of marijuana and drugs” as well as “criminal activities such as providing shelter to Maoists.”