The ongoing peaceful sitting protest by AISA- Led Ambedkar University Delhi students entered its seventh day today amid heightened tensions, administrative crackdowns, and a severe safety crisis on campus.
Students have been protesting against the imposition of physical iron caging, aggressive gate barricading, and the steady erosion of campus democracy, alongside a multi-point charter of student demands. The situation turned critical late last night when security guards acting on administrative instructions restricted the delivery of basic necessities, including food and water, to peaceful protesters. The escalation led to a confrontation initiated by security personnel. At approximately 3:00 AM, a protesting student collapsed due to a severe deterioration in health, exaberated by the violence – Aameen who was on 23 days of hunger strike along with Neha and Manish at Jantar Mantar. Despite the life-threatening emergency, university authorities intentionally blocked both the ambulance and police vehicles from entering the campus premises. Medical evacuation was delayed for an extended period due to administrative resistance before students managed to transport the patient to the hospital. Furthermore, as students gathered at the university gates this morning to attend scheduled classes and peacefully advocate for their rights, administration officials completely locked the gates and denied entry to regular students. The University administration conveniently scheduled the repair of the library and the computer lab today, while students allege that none of these repairs or such maintenance activity took place today. This move too was seen as part of an effort to scuttle the students’ ongoing indefinite sit-in protest.
Key Student Demands:
- Immediate Removal of Restrictive Structures: Urgent dismantling of iron caging, internal barricades, and physical barriers restricting student movement across campus.
- Restoration of Campus Democracy: An end to administrative high-handedness, intimidation, and restrictions on peaceful assembly and student representation.
- Accountability for Medical Negligence: Strict disciplinary and legal action against administration personnel and security officials responsible for blocking emergency medical access and an ambulance during a health crisis.
- Resolution of Charter Demands: Immediate, direct negotiations with elected/protesting student representatives to resolve all points outlined in the Charter of Demands.
- Unconditional Campus Access: Immediate reinstatement of entry rights for all registered students to resume classes and access campus facilities without harassment.
Today the campus was arbitrarily without any notice shut down to students, who had exams and classes to isolate the students on indefinite from the past few days which includes Jigyasa and Shubham, councillors from Lodhi Road and Karampura Campus and a first year student from Karampura. The administration has shut the campus on the pretext of library and computer lab renovations which verified by these 3 inside are not happening and are locked instead. The Proctor – Prof Satyaketu Sankrit – also issued an appeal to the students to end the protest instead of engaging with the demands and resorting to such apathetic resorts to cage those in and keep every student outside. The student body appeals to civil society, legal rights organizations, human rights bodies, and media houses to intervene, report on the situation, and demand accountability from the university administration. AISA
