Seeking shelter under a camping tent, 27-year-old Apoorva YK, a final year LLM (Masters of Law) student of the South Asian University (SAU) in Delhi, is on an indefinite sit-in protest outside the University gate against her expulsion. She, along with Procheta M, an MPhil scholar in Sociology, was expelled on February 18, two months after a student movement demanding a hike in scholarships and stipends for students ended. Two students were rusticated for a year, and another was charged with a heavy fine, on the same day. Students allege that the University administration has been hounding them arbitrarily ever since October 2022, when the protests first began. Apoorva is determined to continue with the protest until the administration revokes the expulsion and rustication of all the students who have been allegedly targeted by the University.
While Apoorva holds a solitary protest outside the University gates, the other affected students have approached the judiciary, and written to several parliamentarians, seeking an end to their struggle. The months of protests have made them “very tired,” a student told TNM.
The protests began in October 2022, when students of SAU launched a movement demanding changes in the scholarship policy, including increased stipends for Masters students, parity with the Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) in the scholarship amount for doctoral scholars, as well as student representation in the University Complaints Committee. However, the administration not only refused to accept the demands but also took disciplinary action against several students, including expulsion and rustication. In an earlier report, TNM had detailed the course of protests that led to the action against students in November last year. The students later intensified their protest by launching an indefinite sit-in strike. Initially, the University rusticated two students, but as the protests persisted, the action was revoked only to expel them later. A proctorial order issued on November 25 expelled two, two rusticated for a year, and suspended one for the duration of a semester, without any inquiry.
Two students protesting against the administration
Ammar Ahmed, a Master's student who attempted death by suicide following a rustication order on November 25, is yet to recover and suffers from long-term complications involving mobility and speech. “While in hospital, Ammar suffered a cardiac arrest and a series of seizures, which resulted in complications including loss of speech and mobility. Ammar had repeatedly appealed to the members of the administration, especially the Acting Registrar Mohammed Abulaish to reconsider the rustication order, but to no avail. As a result of continued institutional harassment, Ammar attempted death by suicide. He is a first-generation learner and had to overcome several obstacles in order to access higher education. His family didn’t have the financial means to cover the medical expenses,” Apoorva said.
The students who supported Ammar and his family through his hospitalisation were targeted by the University in the second round of expulsions and rustications in February, a statement issued by the students said. The University administration sent show-cause notices to five students on January 13, 2023. Five members of the faculty also received show-cause notices for supporting the protesting students. Later, on February 18, the students who were given show-cause notices in January faced further disciplinary actions. This second round of disciplinary action by the University involved, in addition to the expulsion of Apoorva and Procheta, the rustication of two students—Keshav Sawarn and Rohit Kumar. Bonna Chakraborty, a native of Bangladesh, was fined and barred from pursuing any future programme at the University. “The expelled and rusticated students had advocated for Ammar during his hospitalisation, and supported the family in their struggle for bringing justice to the student,” the students’ statement read.
Apoorva began her protest on February 25, 2023. She alleged that the administration has not yet considered her demand to revoke the expulsion of the protesting students. Initially, Apoorva was camping outside the University gate, but on Tuesday, February 28, the security guards forcefully removed her from the spot. “They threw my belongings and tent in a place that was previously a jungle. Snakes crawl there now,” she said. “It is an arbitrary punishment to expel students and rusticate them for making a valid demand. The administration is targeting the students individually, asking them to write apology letters, and yet expelling them and taking punitive actions against them,” she added. She alleged that the University administration created a hostile environment with constant harassment before expelling her.
Following protests over the November 25 action against five students including Ammar, the University constituted a High Power Committee for “consideration of the representations received from all concerned relating to disciplinary action in relation to students”, on December 28. The Committee, constituted to hear the grievances of the students regarding the proctorial order that expelled them, was ironically chaired by the proctor Kapil Kumar Sharma himself. The other members included four professors and a representative of the administration. After two rounds of hearings that the expelled students termed “humiliating”, the Committee confirmed the proctorial order and thereby, their expulsions.
A student who spoke to TNM on the condition of anonymity said that the months of struggle have left him and his friends traumatised. He said that the initial reason for the protests, that is, a demand for increased stipends, has now become secondary. “We want to be able to study. There are Ph.D. scholars among those expelled. One of them hasn’t received his JRF money for four months now, while another has just four months to file his thesis. The University administration is meting out arbitrary and inhuman punishments to students,” he said. The student also alleged that a Bangladeshi student who was fined Rs 40,000 for participating in the protests wrote to the administration stating that he had developed suicidal ideations, and requested them to withdraw the order. The administration allegedly refused to respond to his requests.
Two of the expelled students have currently approached the Delhi High Court seeking an interim stay for the expulsion order. A Dalit student who was among those expelled had filed a complaint with the National Commission for SC/ST on December 27. Almost a month later, when he visited the Commission office on January 24, no action had been taken on his complaint. When the University shifted classes to its permanent campus from the rented facility in Chanakyapuri on January 21, the students expelled in November were denied hostel rooms and left to protest outside the campus gates.
The Union government’s response to the issue has been far from helpful.
SAU is an international university sponsored by the eight member states of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Poor diplomatic relations between the SAARC nations have meant that the University’s governing body has not met in over five years. Letters to the Minister of External Affairs, S Jaishankar, by several MPs, received a template reply that said, “India is working with the SAARC secretary general and like-minded member states to try and resolve these issues.”
Despite repeated representations to the Ministry of External Affairs and MPs raising the issue in Parliament, the Union government maintained that they have no jurisdiction over what happens in the University. While the government keeps citing diplomatic reasons to remain uninvolved in the SAU issue, students at the University are left with nobody to approach as the administration continues to arbitrarily harass them.