A student leader on hunger strike at Jamia Millia Islamia was hospitalised after experiencing dizziness and low blood sugar on the ninth day of the protest, according to information shared by the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) on Tuesday. NSUI said Ebin Basil’s condition was later reported to have improved.
Basil is protesting over three demands: restoration of the student union, withdrawal of disciplinary action taken against protesting students, and the resignation of the university’s chief proctor. NSUI said the hunger strike was continuing despite the health complications and that Basil had expressed his intention to remain on protest until the demands were addressed.
The hospitalisation brings the immediate health risks of a prolonged hunger strike into focus while the underlying dispute remains unresolved. The report does not specify the hospital where Basil was admitted, the duration of his treatment or whether university officials visited him.
NSUI appealed to the Jamia administration to consider the students’ demands seriously and begin an immediate dialogue to resolve the dispute. The organisation framed the matter as one involving student rights and institutional accountability, and said the issues should be addressed through discussion.
The university has already constituted a seven-member committee to engage with students and consider ways to resolve the matter, according to the report. The committee’s mandate, membership and timeline for submitting recommendations were not detailed in the available information.
The dispute places the university’s student representation and disciplinary processes at the centre of the confrontation. A student union can serve as a formal channel between students and the administration, while disciplinary action linked to protests can affect how campus grievances are expressed and negotiated. In this case, the administration’s committee is the identified institutional mechanism for dialogue, but no outcome from its discussions has been reported.
For students, the immediate concern is Basil’s health, while the wider issue is whether the university and protest organisers can move the dispute from a hunger strike to a structured dialogue. The available report confirms the hospitalisation, the stated demands and the formation of the committee, but does not establish whether any of the demands have been accepted, rejected or formally taken up by the administration.
The next reported step is the seven-member committee’s engagement with students and its consideration of a resolution to the dispute. No further timeline was provided.
