A hunger strike by 17 Jawaharlal Nehru University students entered its fifth day on Thursday as the students pressed for repairs to deteriorating campus infrastructure, changes to protest regulations and the withdrawal of rustication notices issued earlier this year.
Three office-bearers of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union and 14 other students are taking part in the indefinite protest. The students have described their campaign as opposition to what they call an “attack on public universities”, combining concerns about student disciplinary rules with demands for improvements to basic campus facilities.
The students have opposed provisions in the Chief Proctor Manual that prescribe stringent penalties for gatherings and protests. All four JNUSU office-bearers were rusticated for two semesters in February, and three of them are participating in the hunger strike. The union is seeking revocation of those rustication notices.
JNUSU general secretary Sunil Yadav said the students’ demands included renovation of what they described as crumbling campus infrastructure. They are also seeking the restoration of the university’s internal entrance examination system, arguing that the centralised testing system causes delays.
The infrastructure-related demands cover several parts of daily campus life. The students are seeking upgrades to hostels, increased library seating, functional lifts, repairs to campus roads, renovation of stadiums and the construction of gender-neutral washrooms. The list places maintenance and accessibility alongside broader questions about how a large public university manages essential facilities for its residential community.
The protest follows a report by the students’ union in September that a ceiling fan had fallen in a hostel room. The incident has added a safety concern to the wider demand for hostel renovation and maintenance. The supplied report does not indicate whether the university has issued a public assessment of the incident or announced a repair schedule.
The students have also raised concerns about medical monitoring during the protest. They alleged that doctors at the university’s health centre were not monitoring the health of the three rusticated office-bearers because of their disciplinary status, and that their health was being monitored privately. The other students on hunger strike have undergone regular health check-ups, with some recording low blood sugar levels.
The dispute therefore involves both the physical condition of the campus and the institutional rules governing access to services and public protest. The students’ demands link hostel safety, mobility within campus, library capacity, roads, sanitation facilities and examination administration to the broader question of how university infrastructure and governance are experienced by students.
University officials had not responded to the students’ demands at the time of publication. The hunger strike was continuing on Thursday, with health checks for participating students and negotiations or an official response yet to be reported.
