Jamia Millia Islamia’s student protest escalated on Saturday after five students on hunger strike were removed from a demonstration site, prompting fresh clashes, police deployment and disciplinary action by the university administration. The students were protesting for the restoration of the students’ union.
The protesters alleged that university security personnel forcibly removed them from near Gate 7 of Gulistan-e-Ghalib Lawn at about 5:30 am on the sixth day of the hunger strike. According to the students, around 100 security personnel arrived from behind the mosque gate, dragged them towards Gate 7 and assaulted some of them. They claimed that six students suffered minor injuries and accused the security staff of pulling hair and hitting them in the abdomen.
The university administration rejected the allegations as baseless. It said two students were sent to hospital after their health deteriorated. The students identified as being in the most serious condition were Mohammad Jasim and Aven. After receiving medical attention, Aven returned to the protest site and announced that the hunger strike would continue.
The incident led to renewed protests at Gate 7 on Saturday afternoon. Around 300 students gathered and attempted to enter the campus while demonstrating. Some protesters entered the campus forcibly and marched towards the Vice-Chancellor’s gate while carrying posters of the Vice-Chancellor and the Registrar. Security personnel detained several students and handed them over to the police, according to the report.
As tension rose, electricity supply across the campus was shut down as a precaution. Police and paramilitary personnel were deployed at all university gates, while demonstrations continued into the night. The protesters demanded an independent inquiry into the removal of the hunger strikers and the alleged use of force.
The protest began on the evening of October 12 near Gate 7, with five students joining the hunger strike over the demand to restore the students’ union. The dispute has since expanded from a question of student representation into a wider confrontation over access to campus spaces, the administration’s disciplinary powers and the handling of demonstrations inside a university.
The administration has taken action against three students. Mohammad Jasim was barred from entering the campus for six months. The university accused him of entering the campus without permission on October 12, misbehaving with security personnel, using abusive language and violating discipline. It also cited absence-related allegations in the action against him.
Aven, a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws (Honours) student, was barred from the campus for one year and suspended. Another student, Rehan, was also suspended. The report said videos of the incident were circulating on social media, but the university’s account and the students’ allegations remained sharply different.
The immediate next step sought by the protesters is an independent investigation into the early-morning removal of the hunger strikers and the conduct of security personnel. The university’s disciplinary orders and the continuing deployment at the gates are likely to determine how the confrontation develops.
