Overview
- Students launched an indefinite hunger strike on October 12 and have re-erected a protest camp near Gate No. 7 to press for restoration of a centrally elected students’ union.
- Protesters say security guards removed hunger-striking students before dawn on October 17, alleging lights were switched off and people were dragged, while the university says guards acted in self-defence.
- The administration has issued disciplinary orders that include one year’s rustication and two six-month suspensions and has closed the Dr Zakir Husain and Old libraries for security reasons.
- A seven-member university committee was announced on October 18 to engage with protesters, but the administration has not set a timeline for elections or said whether it will review the disciplinary orders.
- The dispute centers on whether Jamia should restore a central union or rely on existing elected subject associations, and the issue follows a history of the union being dissolved in 2006 and briefly restored in 2005–06.