Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi (SHP)

New Delhi, Oct 15: Indian-origin economist Abhijit Banerjee was one of the three people who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. Interestingly so, Banerjee in his academic days spent 10 days in Tihar jail. Banerjee was accused of 'gheraoing' the vice-chancellor of his university, JNU.

Banerjee wrote about a piece in Hindustan Times back in 2016, on the incident that took place in the summer of 83'. The reason for 'gheraoing' the VC of JNU was to expel the president of the student union. The gheraoing resulted in police being deployed by the then ruling party, Congress. Over 100 and more students were arrested and detained in jail for 10 days where they experienced police brutality.

"I was arrested and thrown into Tihar jail, charged not quite with sedition, but attempt to murder and the rest. The charges were eventually dropped — thank god — but not before we spent ten days or so in Tihar," he writes.

Further, Banerjee claimed that the teachers then would support such actions by the government as they had strong leftist beliefs. Banerjee concluded his piece by stating that government as a whole should be conscious enough to never invade shared spaces of universities.