The students of Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law (RGNUL), Patiala, Punjab, have resumed online classes after a prolonged period of protests on campus. These protests were centred around the demand for the resignation of Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dr Jai Shankar Singh.
The protests began on September 22, following an incident where the vice-chancellor allegedly made inappropriate and derogatory comments during an unscheduled visit to the girls' hostel.
This led to students staging in-campus demonstrations, which escalated into a hunger strike on October 6. However, the hunger strike was called off after 24 hours owing to serious health concerns among the participants, although the overall protests continued.
In a statement released yesterday, October 13, the RGNUL student community announced the suspension of their protests in light of the ongoing academic loss.
The statement read, "Upon the formation of such a committee (the Mediation Committee) and keeping in consideration the grave academic loss that the student community has been facing at large, the student community has decided on suspension of the protest and the resumption of the online classes while the mediation process continues."
However, despite the resumption of classes, students remain resolute in their primary demand for resignation of the VC over misconduct allegations.
A student, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, "We are firm that even if we are attending our classes, we will not step back from our primary demand. The VC is still in college and that is concerning at the end of the day."
The situation remains tense as the mediation process unfolds, and students are awaiting developments regarding their primary demand.
