Jamia Millia Islamia has rusticated one student, suspended two others and barred all three from campus for a year after they joined an indefinite hunger strike demanding the restoration of the university’s students’ union. The disciplinary orders were issued on Friday, while student organisations have alleged that security personnel manhandled protesters at the campus protest site.
The student rusticated for one year with immediate effect is Ebin Basil, an LLB student. The two suspended students are Jasim Khan, a postgraduate student in International Studies at the India-Arab Cultural Centre, and Rehaan Haider, an MA Social Work student. The orders also impose a one-year campus ban on all three.
According to the administration’s order, Basil participated in an “unauthorised sit-in” at Ghalib Lawn, obstructed university staff and disrupted the installation of CCTV cameras on October 15. The university alleged that members of the gathering pulled a CCTV camera wire, rendering the system non-functional. It also referred to an earlier protest on September 11, alleging that Basil and other students confronted members of the proctorial team and circulated videos containing “misleading accounts” of the incident.
Five students, including the three against whom action has been taken, began the hunger strike on October 12. Their demand is the restoration of the students’ union, which has not held elections at Jamia since 2006. The union was dissolved during the tenure of former Vice-Chancellor Mushirul Hasan.
In a joint statement issued after the disciplinary orders, student organisations alleged that “more than 100” security guards entered the protest site in the morning and “manhandled” the students on hunger strike. The allegation was made by the student groups and was not independently established in the report.
The disciplinary action came a day after Vice-Chancellor Mazhar Asif and Registrar Md. Mahtab Alam Rizvi held a meeting lasting more than six hours with elected office-bearers of subject associations from the university’s departments and centres. In a statement issued on October 16, the university said the meeting gave students a forum to raise grievances and suggest measures to address them.
A university official told The Indian Express that the administration had no “in principle objection” to restoring the students’ union, but said a formal request would first need to be considered. The official said a committee would then have to examine the matter and assess safeguards against incidents of violence before a decision could be taken.
The administration has described subject associations as an established channel of student representation across Jamia’s 44 departments and 30 centres. Their elected office-bearers can raise department-specific concerns with faculty members and the administration, the official said.
The official also cited alleged incidents of violence and clashes involving students and teachers as factors that had shaped the university’s position on restoring a university-wide union. The official referred to proceedings before the Delhi High Court in 2022, saying the matter did not result in a direction to Jamia to restore the union.
The university’s next stated step is to consider a formal request and examine the safeguards and institutional arrangements required before taking a decision on the students’ union.
