In a fresh wave of administrative crackdown, Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD) has indefinitely suspended five students once again, less than two months after allowing them back on campus to complete their end-semester academic requirements.
The five students—Ajay, Keerthana, Sharanya, Shefali, and Shubhojeet—were first suspended on April 11, following a sit-in and hunger strike demanding the revocation of earlier suspensions issued to three other student protestors.
Following sustained pressure from the student community, their suspension was temporarily revoked in May to allow them to complete assessments. But on June 27, the university sent them fresh emails, barring them from campus again
According to the Student Federation of India (SFI), the administration claimed that the earlier revocation was done solely to enable the students to finish their academic work. Now that the semester has ended, the five students are again debarred, despite no inquiry being concluded and no official reasoning given.
Speaking to EdexLive, Sameer, President of the SFI unit at AUD, said that the students’ campus access, academic portals, and email IDs have been blocked, cutting them off from all university-related work.
Two of them are still pursuing their master’s degree and cannot continue their studies, while the other three who completed their programs have been barred from applying to AUD again.
“The notice doesn’t even mention how long the suspension is. It just mentions that they are debarred from entering the campus. So, we can say it is an indefinite suspension only,” he added.
Timeline: What happened so far?
It all began when three students affiliated with SFI—Anan, Nadia, and Harsh—were suspended after raising concerns over a ragging incident on campus. This incident led to a relay hunger strike and sit-in protest by students outside the AUD main gate.
Students demanded the revocation of the suspensions and accountability from the administration. As the hunger strike intensified, one student’s health deteriorated, prompting students to appeal to the administration for medical and administrative intervention.
“These five students then started a peaceful protest in front of the AUD main gate, demanding that the authorities should at least come out and meet the students. They are falling ill, their physical condition is in a very poor state… at least some authorities should come out and meet the students,” said Sameer, President of SFI-AUD.
Instead, the students were met with security forces and police intervention.
“The security guards crashed the protest, police were called, and the same day, the students were suspended from the university,” Sameer recounted.What followed was a 40-day-long relay hunger strike and sit-in on campus. However, the protest was discontinued in mid-May after the administration, citing security concerns during the India-Pakistan conflict, barred students from staying on campus past 8 pm.
Eventually, on May 16, amid increasing pressure from the student group, the university revoked the suspensions and allowed the five students to complete their assessments, which were already underway.
However, on June 27, while the university remained closed for summer vacation, the administration sent emails to the same five students informing them that they were once again suspended and barred from entering campus.
Two of the suspended students hold elected positions in the union.
In a press release issued on July 1, the SFI-AUD KG Unit condemned the suspensions, calling them “arbitrary”, “selective targeting”, and a “move to strangle the functioning of the Student Union”.
Now, the student group is considering challenging the recent suspensions legally.