New Delhi: The Delhi high court has temporarily stayed the suspension order by Jamia Millia Islamia University against students who protested at a commemorative event against the police crackdown on the anti-CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) demonstrations that took place on campus in 2019.
Hearing the plea by one of the students, a bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma condemned the manner in which the varsity responded to the peaceful demonstrations, calling it “worrisome”.
Seventeen students were suspended for an indefinite period for ‘protesting without prior permission’ and ‘defacing public property.’
The university’s counsel, Amit Sahni, submitted to the court that the “protests have no correlation with academics” and that the students had not sought permission for them.
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The court, as reported by The Indian Express, said, “You are the university, what do I say. I don’t want to pass any comments against the university. They are their children…you have to handle the children carefully. If someone is indulging in criminal activity, definitely [take action], but aise thode hi (not like this).”
“Without going into the veracity of the submissions of either party, a perusal of the record itself leaves the court worried about the way in which the protests being undertaken by the students are handled by the university. The court is not going into the reason for the protests at the moment, but the documents shown by the petitioners, prima facie show that it was a peaceful protest. All the students are of tender age,” it observed.
The high court has directed the university’s vice chancellor to form a committee comprising officials and student representatives to address the situation.
Also read: Is a Small Tweak in the Language of a Jamia Rule Paving the Way for Fewer Muslim Enrolments?
These students were staging sit-in protest against Jamia’s order to ban protests and meetings without permission, and demanding the revoking of disciplinary action against four PhD scholars who held a demonstration on December 14, 2024, to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the anti-CAA protests, during which a clashes between the police and students on the Jamia campus had left several injured.
On February 12, the varsity suspended 17 students who were protesting and banned them from entering the campus. On the wee hours of February 13, 14 of them were woken up while they were sleeping in front of the central canteen and forcibly carried by security guards of the institute under the guidance of the chief security officer of the university Syed Abdul Rasheed.
The court has sought a response from the university administration.