Ahmed Mir and Sarthak Parashar, TwoCircles.net
As their suspension letters began to reach their homes, the students and their families have found themselves caught between the administration’s punitive actions and their desire to continue their education along with activism.
In a display of unity, students from various Jamia departments boycotted their classes in support of the suspended students. A march was organised from the History Department to the Dean of Students’ Welfare (DSW) office, where a memorandum was submitted to demand the revocation of the suspensions. Despite these efforts, the university administration has remained resolute, refusing to lift the suspensions or take down circulars that have banned posters, protests and other forms of expression on campus.
A struggle to stay strong
Sajahan, a 21-year-old first-year postgraduate student of Sociology, is one of the 17 suspended students. “I come from Kolkata and have no relatives in Delhi. The political scenario is very different here. The campus is the only place in the city that makes me feel safe as a Muslim, and yet, I cannot enter it because of the suspension,” he told TwoCircles.net with a sense of loss.
As suspension letters began to reach students’ permanent addresses, involving their parents in this legal matter, Sajahan shared how difficult it was to explain the situation to his family. “The police called my dad even before I was suspended. Today, I told my parents that they would receive a suspension letter. They are also concerned for my safety.”
Loss of a safe space
For many students, Jamia was more than just an academic institution – it was a safe, budget-friendly place that felt like home. However, the suspension has stripped them of that sanctuary, taking a toll on their academics, finances and mental well-being.
Mishkat Tehrim, a 24-year-old postgraduate student of Sociology who was also suspended, spoke about the abruptness of the situation. “During the protests, I was attending classes to stay updated. Now, I cannot take classes as I have been banned from the campus. I cannot access the budget-friendly canteen food and the library. I am 1,500 km away from my home in Jharkhand,” she said.
She further explained the charges leveled against her: “My suspension letter accuses me of vandalising within the premises of gate number 8 of the university, which is 700m away from the protest site. These charges are fabricated. All of these are tactics to crush the protests.”
Faculty members’ silence
As Jamia’s Department of Sociology proceeded with its annual fest, Karvan-e-Fikr, the alleged absence of support from faculty members left the suspended students questioning whether their suspensions even mattered to their department. “My department is hosting its annual academic fest, and I cannot participate. Despite the students supporting us, the faculty has gravely disappointed us,” said Sajahan.
Last week, the university administration made the personal details of the suspended students public and pasted their names, addresses, photographs on different gates of the campus. “It was a grave violation of our privacy, potentially exposing us to harm,” they said.
When called out, the university accused the media and social media users of making the personal details of the students public – cleverly avoiding the crucial question: under which law did it paste the details and photographs on its gates?
“I was one of the suspended students whose names, photos and other confidential details were pasted at the gates of the university. As a Muslim woman, I am reminded of the Bulli Bai case where Muslim women were auctioned online. If our personal details are used against us, will the Jamia administration be answerable?” asked Tehrim.
Fourteen protesting students were detained by the police from the campus on the early morning of February 13, three days after an indefinite sit-in protest at the university’s Central Canteen.
Cellistine Lewis, 22, a postgraduate student from Jamia’s Nelson Mandela Centre for Peace and Conflict, who left the protest site the night before the detention, said, “I was at the protest site for two days. On the third day, I was there until 10-11 pm, but my migraine got so bad that I had to leave. Everyone who stayed the night was detained.”
Another suspended student, Sakhi, 21, is a final-year undergraduate student of Sociology, who uses gender-neutral pronouns was suspended the night before the detentions. “The police kept on calling my parents, asking them to make me leave the protest site, and that, apart from my early suspension, is one of the reasons I was not at the protest site when the students were detained by the cops,” they said.
Sakhi has found solidarity within their department. “I feel that my department, both the faculty and the students, have supported me because of my three-year-long involvement in the department and student politics,” they said.
The alleged lack of solidarity from the faculty members has disappointed many of the suspended students. Tehrim termed it “hypocrisy”. “My professors taught me about the revolution Raja Ram Mohan Roy had brought. At a time when democratic spaces are struggling to survive amid fascism, they expect us to not participate in the protest. What is the point of teaching all of this if the campus is growing more authoritarian with each passing day?”
Involving the parents of the suspended students, allegedly through suspension letters and calls from the Delhi Police and the university administration, the agitating students said, has become a “crackdown” on their children’s right to freedom.
Sakhi’s father, Mukul Saral, 51, a journalist and poet, said, “The university is so much more than a place where people go to get a job. It is where they learn to critically think and examine the social structures. There is no right time to speak out against injustice than the present. As a parent, I am concerned not only for the academics and career of my child, I am also concerned for her safety as their private details were made public by the university administration. Still more than anything, I am proud of my child.”
While some of the suspended students have been involved in student politics since the 2019-20 protests against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and then proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR), others are relatively new to it, still in their first year of undergraduate studies.
Agraj Yadav, 21, a first-year student of mass media at the Department of Hindi, hails from Jhansi and is not associated with any political group. He said, “The students have done nothing wrong. Staging peaceful protest is our fundamental right.” When asked about his parents, he expressed his feelings of isolation: “I just have my 12th class marksheet and have been in Delhi for eight-nine months. Although we are taking legal recourse, I do not have many places or people to go to.”
As students, academicians and activists from different universities and political affiliations gathered to support the suspended students at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on February 19, the uncertainty about their future looms large. While the students remain hopeful, the Jamia administration has yet to respond. The students continue to wait for justice, as their academic, personal and political futures hang in the balance.