Wednesday (September 25): Kannan Gopinathan, an ex-IAS officer, was stopped today from visiting Jaykar Knowledge Resource Centre (JKRC) – the library at Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU).
Mr. Kannan is one among the few IAS officers who resigned last month from the service over denial of basic rights to the Kashmiri people.
“The students were very excited and wanted to show me the campus, including the library. But as conversation between students and the library official got into a confrontational mode, we decided not to escalate the matter further and dropped the idea of visiting the library. Personally, it was an experience.”, Mr. Gopinathan told as reported by Indian Express.
While Gopinathan said students wanted him to visit the library and that they “dropped the idea” after a confrontation between the students and library officials, Aparna Rajendra, director-in-charge of JKRC, said she was merely following procedures by asking for an application for the officer’s visit, reported Indian Express.
According to students who were with Gopinathan, they arrived at the library around 11.30 am and informed the official about Gopinathan’s visit. The students said they are clueless why library officials insisted that they submit an application for his visit.
The students later held an informal discussion with Gopinathan at the varsity’s Aniket canteen and also visited the main building of SPPU.
