Some students of Jamia Millia Islamia got into a scuffle with the administration over the venue for a cultural event. Dayare Shauk Student’s Charter, a students’ organization had organised an event to celebrate their struggle over the years in the campus. They also wanted to have a get together with freshers. The students’ organization claims that they had written a letter to the proctor informing him about the event, who then forwarded the letter to the dean (students’ welfare). However, the registrar told them that they could not hold the event in Jamia’s central canteen and that instead, they could shift it to the amphitheatre.
According to them, the dean (students’ welfare) asked for a day to consider the matter. On the next day, the organizers waited till 12:30 pm for a response but there was none. So, they went on to organize the event. At 4:30 pm, the proctor came in with guards and interrupted the event many times. To keep them away, the students formed a human chain around the stage, the guards tried to break it and the situation got violent. One of the organizers who wished not to be named said,“Proctor has a legal team. He should have given a notice or summon the organizers or he should have come with some teachers and some guards and try to manage the situation peacefully but he didn’t. Instead, he barged on us with some 70 guards who broke the mics and assaulted us.” He further added that there was no lady guard with the proctor and the male guard manhandled the female students. Many of the students have bruises on their body.
On contacting the Proctor, he refused to comment on this matter. In a Times Of India report, the administration asked the students to shift the venue to avoid disturbing classes. In the report, Saima Saeed, Jamia’s Media Coordinator said, “Several self-financing courses have classes till 7:30pm.” But according to the organizers, the sound of the microphone that was used wasn’t loud enough to cause any disturbance to the classes.
However, after the incident, the students went to meet the Vice Chancellor but claimed that he refused to meet them. The registrar came to talk to them after the incident and said that the guards were also beaten, to which the students’ replied that the videos taken by the administration can be investigated, and that there was no incident of beating a guard.
Now the students demand a democratic campus where they can have freedom of organizing an event on the campus.