JNU fined eight students Rs 19,000 each for cheering a protest; High Court stays the fines
JNU's Proctorial Committee fined eight students Rs 19,000 each for indiscipline, alleging they cheered and supported protesters who damaged a facial-recognition system. The Delhi High Court stayed the fines on 10 September 2026. It held that at best the students were seen smiling at protesters and that cheering a demonstration is a valuable right.
This page records what the cited court records and reports say happened. Findings belong to the court or authority that made them; this register adds none of its own. Names of private individuals are withheld unless a naming gate clears them.
How we verify →The fines are stayed; the petition is listed for 12 January 2027 per LiveLaw.
What happened
The High Court recorded that the Chief Proctor issued show-cause notices alleging that five students shook camera stands and cheered students vandalising the facial-recognition system, and that three encouraged it by clapping and sloganeering.
The High Court recorded that the students denied the acts and said they were, at best, seen smiling at the protesters, and that the Proctorial Committee fined each of them Rs 19,000 on 02.02.2026.
The High Court held that even if the allegations were taken as correct, smiling at protesters is not indiscipline, and that the University's act struck a blow at the students' fundamental rights.
The High Court stayed the fines until the next date of hearing.
What the record says
“the right to express dissent/demonstrate and/or to express support by way of cheering for a demonstration, to my mind, constitutes a valuable right which cannot be allowed to be curbed or interdicted in any manner.”
W.P.(C) 13316/2026, Delhi High Court, order dated 10.09.2026, para 11 — read the full text
Punished for a freedom
A public university penalised students for cheering and supporting a protest, which the court described as a valuable right, with no finding that they damaged anything.
What we could not confirm
This is an interim stay; the challenge to the fines is still to be decided.