JMI students’ hunger strike enters day 14; hostel eviction triggers fresh row

Jamia students say hostel residents were told to leave as a union-restoration protest continues; the university has shifted classes online and increased security.

New Delhi Students from at least three hostels on the Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) campus said they had been asked to vacate their accommodations on Sunday as the protest for the restoration of the students’ union entered its 14th day.

Students of Jamia Millia Islamia protesting outside university gate on Sunday. (Arvind Yadav/Hindustan Times)

Several female students who reside at the Gerda Philipsborn Hostel (GP), Begum Anis Kidwai Hostel (BAK) and Begum Hazrat Mahal Girls’ Hostel on the university campus, which house over 800 students, alleged that the wardens had asked them to vacate their room citing a shift to online classes.

“The internet connection in the girls’ hostel has been slow, and the electricity was briefly cut on Saturday. When we approached the warden with these concerns, we were asked to return home since classes would now be conducted online,” alleged Zahwa, 21.

A JMI spokesperson did not directly address the allegations. Adding that the brief power cut was part of routine maintenance and unrelated to the ongoing protest, the spokesperson further said, “No classes are being held on campus, so why are these students here?”

To be sure, there have been no reports of any official communication in this regard. According to data available on the university’s official website, JMI has seven women’s hostels and 10 men’s hostels on campus that house 1,864 and 2,220 students, respectively.

On Saturday, the JMI administration ordered a shift to online classes until further notice, citing student safety and security amid the ongoing campus protest.

One student said women students were being urged in particular to leave after they held a large women’s only protest on Friday night.

Over 300 female students marched from Ibn-e-sina Library to the protest site near JMI’s Gate no. 7, expressing solidarity with the hunger strikers, and demanding the restoration of the union.

The protest began on October 12, when three JMI students went on a hunger strike demanding the restoration of the students’ union, dissolved in 2006. On October 21, the university set up a committee to draft the students’ union constitution. However, students have stuck to their demands, asking for elections to be notified and held soon.

Police on Sunday said that security has been increased outside the campus with dozens of security personnel visible outside the campus.

After a video emerged online of students in confrontation with the police outside Gate No. 7, deputy commissioner of police (southeast) Vineet Kumar said a few students who were trying to enter the campus by climbing over the barricades had been stopped from doing so and three were briefly detained for trespassing and obstructing police officials.

Tabrez Choudhary, an LLM student, alleged that the administration had closed all gates leading to the protest site on Sunday to prevent more students from joining the agitation. “All the canteens are closed, and the deployment of security guards at every gate has been increased. We are not being allowed to carry food or water inside. Students are being forced to throw food items and water bottles,” Choudhary alleged.

“The heads of the departments of economics and political science have complained to the chief proctor that students have illegally occupied their departments, as Gate No. 18 is the designated protest site,” the JMI spokesperson said in response.

Police said they have lodged a first information report (FIR) for trespassing against two MPs who joined the protest on Friday night on a complaint by JMI. Police did not identify who the MPs were.

(With inputs from Jignasa Sinha)